Disc Error
by DarkestVampire
Summary: After someone messed with the time space continuum, Ragna the Bloodedge, Bullet and Caelica Mercury are transported far off into the wilderness. Despite having never met before, their common goal, surivival, forms a bond that could never be broken again. Based on an RP, hence the odd writing style. Rated M for sexual themes, language and violence. Pairing is a mystery.
1. Chapter 1

Space and time were never solid in any shape or form. They could be bent, broken even, by the acts of others, by galactic calamities, the list goes on.

The Master Unit Amaterasu was created eons ago to overlook the turmoil of the two lines, the line of time, and the line of space, forming the space time continuum... following its destruction by the Prime Field Unit Alpha-1, there was no longer any sort of control function remaining that could prevent higher forms of life or complex machineary to meddle with the continuum.

As such, no one could predict the future anymore. Nothing was certain, fate no longer existed.

Three people were targeted by the disruptor of the continuum. Three humans, important to the history of the world, who had never seen each other before... They were about to be confronted with the full force of a continuum disruption.

Ragna hauls himself up and spits dirt out, his memory foggy and his mind dull. Aw, shit, he felt like Jubei had stepped on him again. He decides he can organize things later; he isn't dead yet, but something's sure as hell tried, so he hauls himself up and reaches for Bloodscythe. The reassuring weight of the blade fills his hand and he swings it out from his back, hissing through the air, and studies his surroundings. It's a woodsy area, trees that weave thick together overhead and block out almost all the sunlight, only rare and narrow beams penetrating through to dapple the undergrowth. It's nothing like where he was last . . .

His memory is still blurred. Where was he last?

Ragna growls in frustration and steps forward to the nearest figure, a silver-haired woman lying flat on her face, an odd pair of gauntlets on her arms. A generous smearing of blood on one informs him she got a pretty damn good whack in at something. He hopes it wasn't him as he kneels to shake her shoulder. "Hey, lady, you alive or is it time to check your pockets?"

Groaning, Bullet propped herself up, slowly jumping into a croutch before looking around in a feral stance. A forest...? She was pretty sure she was near the NOL Headquarters last time.  
The annoyance from earlier, the guy who shook her shoulder, stood behind her, as she began to realize, so Bullet stood to her full height and faced him.  
"I`d say you don`t, cuz then i would have to beat you up. And i kind of did that a few moments ago... before i ended up wherever we are, so i`m still warmed up."  
She cracked her knuckles, but his concern told her he didn`t mean it that way.  
"Ah, hell, whatever. Where the heck is this place?"  
A concussive noise at her right caught her attention- as soon as she turned to face what ever might`ve caused the noise, her eyes caught the sight of a brunette girl in pretty much the same position she ended up in, only that her face was halfway buried in a rock that happened to be split by her impact.  
"And who`s that?!"

Ragna nods, even as he carefully backs up a pace to give the woman some room. "Well, you sure as hell hit _somebody_, but if you had cracked me that hard I wouldn't be walking. And I still am, obviously. You in good shape?"

He strafes around the brawler to her opposite side, where the brunette lies with her head implanted into solid rock, and checks for a pulse. Surprisingly enough he finds one; the Reaper's eyebrows raise, and he rocks back on his heels. "Shit, she's still alive. Gimme a moment, I'm gonna break her out of this, then we can talk." Hauling back his blade and taking careful aim, he hacks off the top half of the boulder, cutting a few strands of the woman's hair messily but otherwise leaving her totally unharmed.

"Well, I want to say the Citrine Forest, because those vines are bearing mangoes, and the Citrine is the only place those grow on the continent." Ragna says distractedly, rolling the brunette over on her back. She seems mostly fine, with no evident bruising. "Though I don't know why the fuck any of us are here, honestly. That's pretty weird. Ad I don't have the slightest clue who this is."

"Well i don´t have the slightest clue who you are either. If you`d be Ragna the Bloodedge, i`d be dead by now." Bullet smirked, crossing her arms.  
Damn, that girl had to have a skull made of titanium. She didn`t even bleed from that...? Odd.  
"Looks like she`s out cold." Bullet stated the obvious, mentally slapping herself for that. "But with that kind of fall you`d think she would have some sort of headwound."  
The chesty mercenary looked around, then decided to hop onto the nearest tree and climb up to the highest branch she could reach, standing on it.  
While Ragna was treating the new arrival, her eyes scanned the enviroment, but they were far from any mountains or hillsides, let alone a hierarchical city.  
In the far distance, Bullet could make out a few structures, likely a city left over from the war, but even staying down here on the ground... surely the seithr would kill them in mere hours, right?

Ragna chuckles uncomfortably, and sinks his hands into his pockets as he stands up and tilts his head back to watch his other companion. "I'd have to disagree with you on that. Anyways, she doesn't look hurt in the least, but she is totally out of it - her pupils aren't even dilating. So I'm going to biovauc her to someplace less likely to possess angry predators. See any likely spots up there - cliffsides with caves, buildings, stuff like that?"

In the meantime, he kneels and scoots up in front of the unconscious girl, draping her arms over his shoulders and lifting her piggy-back style with a faint huff. "Shit, why am I always carrying unconscious clumsy girls around. I need to find a new line of work."

As she climbed back down again, Bullet looked disappointed.  
"The area is as flat as a board, the only thing in reach is a pre-war city. I suppose its better than nothing, but in this damn seithr we`re not going to ma- huh?"  
She was about to finish her sentence when she noticed the girl Ragna was carrying was raising her hand, whispering something... a second later, something like an aura extended from her, engulfing both Ragna, Bullet and herself.  
Once they were in range of said aura, the tingly feeling on the skin Bullet felt ceased, as if seithr was no longer a problem.  
"...hey, she IS awake, isn`t she?!" Rather than questioning what she just did, Bullet was just annoyed that the girl was playing dead.

Caelica slowly opened her eyes, still bearing a massive headache, but slowly coming to her senses again. As soon as she noticed the sensation of seithr, her first instinct had been to cast a counteracting spell, but now she noticed someone carried her... someone... familiar...  
"H...huh...? Ragna...?"

Ragna shrugs, pragmatic as ever. "Better than nothing, and that's what's at hand at the moment. I'm going there. I can worry about seithr poisoning when it happens." Which will be in a matter of hours, but . . .

A faint murmur in his ear gives him pause, and then the warm wash of seithr on his skin is banished by a purifying ward of a type he's unfamiliar with. His head jerks around and he peers into the girl's eyes from barely an inch away. "Uh. Hi there. Thanks for that, it's going to prevent a nasty death for us all in the immediate future."

He frowns a little, but starts moving towards the ruined city, giving the brass-fisted girl in the tree overhead a significant glance and a jerk of his head. "You look woozy - I know I'm banged up too. Anything feel broken or whatever?"

Caelica stared up at Ragna, then looked down on herself... no blood, no bones sticking out, a few bruises, but that was all.  
"I`m... okay.. just got a really bad headache.. makes it hard to concentrate on magic." Keeping up a protective barrier like this was one of her easiest tasks, but that was the limit of what she could do right now.

"Magic? Like, real magic? Huh." Bullet blinked in suprise, but then shrugged it off. "Looks like this will be an interesting group, alright. Hopefully that ruin still has some necessities stocked- i only have the bare minimum of surivival equipment on me."  
And with that, she followed Ragna deeper into the forest.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Mildly revised due a missing, but important post.

* * *

The city was a wreck, barely worth visiting, but it did have a small, mostly untouched hotel on the outskirts that had survived via virtue of being built into a hillside. It was some kind of mining attraction, and a small stream ran through the back which visitors were supposed to pan for minerals from. Ragna panned, alright, but the precious minerals he threw away and the water he boiled over a small pot of water, more interested in that than miniscule amounts of gold dust.

"Not the best setup in the world but it'll do." he sighs, and glances over at his two companions. The brunette he'd made a makeshift cot for out of the decorative hammocks that hung about the place, if for nothing else than to help relieve her headache. "This hill high enough to take us out of the seithr, or do we need to keep moving after this? Either way, I need to find out exactly where this is. If I can find a topographical map of some sort I can make an educated guess at least."

Shrugging, Bullet took a look around, trying to find some sort of tourist map to find out where they were.  
Obviously, the place hadn`t been used in ages, and it was kind of creepy to look at- this must`ve been the kind of feeling people got from places like Pripyat and Fukushima two centuries ago.  
"I`ve got nothing. Somewhere in Japan, presumeably... on the main island, i didn´t see any oceans or anything earlier." Taking one of the dusty chairs that was half destroyed by decay, Bullet finally took the opportunity to sit down in the restaurant area of the hotel, looking over the menu that was served a century ago.  
"...geez they were overpriced back in the day."

Caelica, still resting, stared at the ceiling, unsure what to do at this point. She was useless until she got rid of this headache- that she decided on.

Ragna winces at the creak of the chair as the woman takes it as a seat. "I think everything here is past its expiration date anyways, lady, so I wouldn't worry about prices." he notes. "Anyways. Put it off long enough."

He sighs and leans back against a wooden column, twitching as the head of a nail pokes him slightly through the coat. Crappy carpentry. "Didn't make a big deal about it earlier, but I _am_ Ragna. Sorry for not pointing that out earlier, but things were busy at the time. Way I see it, something hurled us here out in the middle of fucking nowhere, and who knows what kind of angry violent things are out there trying to eat me. So if you could hang out at least until I manage to hit civilization, I'd appreciate that, since it looks like you can hold your own."

That was about as non-offensively as he could phrase it - normally he wouldn't be so gracious, but if the girl went off on her own the seithr would kill her in hours. He could sacrifice a little pride to save a life.

Bullet sighed, leaning back a bit, ignoring the warning signs the chair was giving her. It only had to last a few minutes- and if it would break, there`d be others.  
"So you are as stupid as you look- giving off your true identity like that. Well... i could quit my job and move to Ookoto if i would just knock you out and deliver you to the nearest NOL branch once you go to sleep, but.." The mercenary groaned slightly, closing her eyes in dismay. "That would be a shitty way to treat someone who helps a girl he`s never met and guides a gun-for-hire out of a maneating forest."  
Maybe she was too nice on him, but he didn`t seem like a bad guy. And she hardly doubted the NOL even had the funds to pay her the reward money they offered for Ragna´s capture.

"Ookoto sucks. The trains are all overcrowded, littering is punishable by jailtime, and there's an automatic draft law that keeps you rotating into the military every two of five years until you're fifty." Ragna says with a frown. Then he winces and scratches at his head. "That . . . last bit may partially be my fault though. Anyways, thanks for not punching me in the head and throwing me in a sack. It'd ruin my feng shui."

He ambles over to the resturant bar and hops over, inspecting the kitchen carefully, until he manages to find a gas stove and lights it up. "Gimme five, I'll have some jerky refried." the Reaper calls with a shrug. "Not the most delicious thing in the world, but it's food, ain't it?"

As he lays out strips of salted meat on a still-intact saucepan and sets it over the lit eye, he glances back curiously at Bullet. "So what do you actually do? I mean, bounty hunting obviously, but I can't exactly inspect the employment boards whenever I make a visit to town."

Crossing her legs over, she eyed him go to the kitchen and starting to cook something like it was natural- in fact, it seemed like it was natural for him.  
Swinging a frying pan like it was one of his limbs... certainly not what she expected the legendary outlaw and murderer of thousands to be like.  
"I get rid of the people rich old people don´t like... sometimes, when money is tight, i take up being a vigilante and take in some small criminals, other times i get hired to be part of a private army that keeps the NOL away from the corrupt scumbags of the world."  
Her eyes narrowed, thinking about her current mission.  
"Right now though, my job seems almost impossible to do... taking out the Blood Prince of Sector Seven, Azreal, just isn´t going to happen unless he accidently kills himself for me."

"Haven't heard of him, but Fuzzbutt's tightmouthed when it comes to her precious Sector." Ragna says idly, digging out a packet of honey and liberally slathering it over the jerky, attempting to make it even marginally more palatable. "Sounds like an upright motherfucker though. Hire a sniper, take him out from three hundred meters away. Why complicate things?"

He flips up the jerky a moment later and spreads them on the ancient plates in the cabinet above, then uses the already heated saucepan to boil water from the faucet. "But that sounds like you have to suck up a lot. Doesn't that piss you off? I can't stand doing that, honestly."

"I think the term 'crazy psychopatic sadist' fits the discription, but unlike Terumi, he just beats his victims to a pulp... ususally." Bullet crossed her arms, sighing downwards. "Haven´t had the pleasure to meet him yet. And... sucking up is part of the job, i suppose, but you have that with just about any job. Just in different shape or form. If i´d be a secretary, i would have to suck up the comments of some perverted fourty-something virgin thats above my paygrade."  
She grimaced slightly as she realized the pun of her sentence.  
"Your job involves that too- you have to suck up being disliked by 90% of the goverment and 50% of the common folk."

Slowly, Caelica shifted around in the hammock Ragna put up, trying to get back on her feet and finally doing something useful- only to realize it was hard enough to keep balance as it was.  
In the end of the story, the hammock flipped, and the young witch landed on her bum.  
"Youtch... curses."

Ragna pauses in his culinary attempts to take in Bullet, then cracks a grin. "Yeah, you fit behind a desk about as well as Arakune does, presumin' you're familiar with him. He's that gooey black thing that eats whatever he can catch in Kagetsuchi whole. Used to be a part of Sector Seven too, from what I hear. I'm guessing he stuck his fingers in something that took exception to being poked at." He frowns. "Which makes me wonder why anyone takes up with that group. Their employees are all nuts."

The Reaper shrugs and carries a plateful of the honey-glazed jerky over to the table Bullet's commandeered. "Anyways, I actually get a pretty fair reception in Kagetsuchi, once the NOL fucks aren't present anymore. Ikaruga's got a lot of reasons to dislike them, and the more troopers I put down, the less are standing around occupying 'pacified' territory and patrolling for Ars-capable citizens to test and conscript." A shrug. "Though, yeah, Tenshin thinks I'm a piece of shit. More personal dislike than anything. But then the last time I visited I brought a Kaka to his manor's kitchens. That didn't end well. So I can see where he's coming from."

Ragna ambles over to the brunette and crouches, turning her head up and peering into her eyes with care. "Hold on, I'm gonna check you for concussions. You split a damn rock with your head. I'm impressed, but that's not a thing you want to repeat anytime soon."

Caelica blinked in suprise, while Bullet gave him a simple thanks for the effort he put into this.  
"I... i split a rock? With my head? ...stop joking, please, my headache was bad enough as it was..."  
She rubbed the back of her head, which made brief contact with the ground during her fall out of the hammock.  
"Or more like, it IS bad enough. Ow."  
Her ruby eyes stared into his, unable to loose herself from him again. It was Ragna. THE Ragna. That Ragna that saved her life, countless of times... though he looked different than he used to.  
"Ragna...? Why are you.. here? And for that matter, why am I here?"

"Where the hell did you think your headache came _from_?" Ragna snarks, peering at the lady's pupils. They aren't dilated, which means she's neither in shock or concussed, both good signs. They track his own deftly. "Sorry, but it wasn't a party night, the alcohol is all long gone."

He releases her head and stands, offering a hand up. "Can't answer either of those - I don't know. Best I can figure it, Terumi did something shitty again. My life's easier when I blame everything on him. Plus, usually accurate." Ragna raises an eyebrow. "You know me already, at least. Can't say I know you though. Can I get an introduction?"

Caelica blinked twice, then a third time.  
Reaching up to his spiky strands of hair, she fondled his head, trying to find a bump or any indication that he got hit there as well.  
"Did you bonk your head against a rock, too? Don´t tell me you don´t remember me~"  
As she found nothing, she sighed a bit, but then smiled sincerely, as bright and honest as a human possibly could.  
"I`m Caelica A. Mercury... we were travelling with Mitsuyoshi and the others? Dark War? Black Beast? Does anything ring a bell at all? Its probably been a very, very long time... but you gotta remember!"

Bullet looked over to the two, raising an eyebrow during her meal.  
Snickering a bit about how she treated a dangerous renegade, a smirk crossed her face.  
"Well, safe to say you look good for being over a hundred years old."

Ragna twitches back, a little unnerved from the uncalled-for affection. "Uh - no?" he says. "Look, I think you're a bit mixed up. Yeah, this is Bloodedge's coat and sword, but Jubei gave 'em to me when I started running aroun -"

He pauses. The name clicks in his brain against an old, old memory, and the reason he'd started his lone crusade in the first place.

"Oh." he says, dumbly. "Oh, _shit_. Oh, shit."

Ragna's palm connects with his face loudly. A moment later he exhales and drops his hand, revealing a red mark on his face where it'd connected. "You know what, for all I understand, it might well be true at this point." he says heavily, and offers a nod to Caelica - his mother, or near enough to be the same thing. "Nice to see you again then. At some point we need to compare timelines. I don't think they're going to match up."

The Reaper about-faces and drops into a chair hard enough that one leg pops audibly, a support giving beneath the bulk. He doesn't even spare a glance. "First. Food. I ain't dealing with this on an empty stomach."

Gods damn it. His mother, of all things.

Fuck you, Terumi.

Caelica blinked again, seeing Ragna`s less than welcome, but still not that uninviting welcome.  
As far as she could tell, he remembered her, but... something must`ve happened to him.  
"All i know is that this woman named Kokonoe, who claims to be my neice, brought me "back from the Dark War" to help fight Terumi... and then there`s that blinding light and i end up connecting with a rock."  
Anyone else would sigh and break down, but she shrugged.  
"I`m used to crazier things at this point... at least the Black Beast is gone."

Bullet didn`t even listen anymore- halfway through the conversation she lost track and decided to stop caring. This wasn`t her business, afterall... she had just gotten to know Ragna, no need to know about his family and friends yet.  
"...its damn good food, considering how old it is." She commented, half-pointing at her dish. "Or its just the cook that made it this good."

Fuck you too, Koko Puffs.

"Can't say I'm not used to them either." Ragna grumbles, and gestures at the table. "Grab something to eat, and let's try to figure out what we're doing next. And, uh, thanks, Bullet."

He scratches his head disconsolately and then takes a vicious bite of the jerky, immature fangs shredding the meat with ease; one of the benefits Rachel's bite had left him with. "So far we seem to be way off the beaten track. The Citrine Forest is due south of Wadatsumi about two days of travel; the only thing out here is an old abandoned Sector Seven base hidden in these ruins. I vote we hit it up for supplies then make tracks for Wadatsumi, where Kokonoe has her HQ. She can get us situated."

The Reaper frowns. "I dunno about the rest of you, but my memory is still junk. I can't remember much of what should be the last week or so, and that smacks of magic fiddling. I don't know anything with the mojo to do that to me either. That's not reassuring."

Bullet growled a bit as he mentioned their best chance was a Sector Seven base. She didn´t want to get involved with anything they`re related to, but... their situation asked for extreme measures like these.  
"I`m missing a few days, but thats not too uncommon when you work with roughnecked mercenaries who drink more whiskey than water."  
She crossed her arms, leaning back a bit. "But i would say we head there tomorrow. We`ve gotten this far, this hotel should be cozy and safe enough for just one night... who knows if we can sleep there."

Caelica, already eating Ragna`s cooking with delight, nodded.  
Sleep was good. But right now she was just in a bliss- this WAS the Ragna she remembered, afterall. This godlike skill he posessed even came though with something so simple.

"Right, right." Ragna mutters, standing up and cracking his neck to the side. He grabs the used dishes and, after a confused glance around, dumps them in the sink with a scowl. "Sure as hell not coming back so no need to wash." he says, staring fixedly at the sink. "I totally do not need to wash dishes. Really."

A pause.

"Goddammit." Ragna sighs in defeat, and cranks the sink handle. Nothing happens, and he lets out a crow of delight before meandering over to a corner filled with sacks, which he kicks into a rough pile with a victorious smirk on his face. "Nothing doing if the water doesn't run." he notes, pleased. "I'm going to grab some sleep before we set out again. Caelica, try to stay awake as long as you can, no offense - I don't know if you're concussed or not. Sleeping is probably a bad idea in your condition."

Caelica snorted slightly, then sat down and crossed her legs.  
Being out like a light for all the time she`s spent being with them, she wasn`t feeling tired at all.  
"I`ve been basically sleeping for the last few hours anyway, so i can do this. Get some good rest, Ragna."

Bullet yawned lightly, tossing the empty plate at the kitchen wall for the heck of it, nodded in agreement.  
"Sleep sounds good. Walking around all day makes my legs hurt, too. Dibs on the penthouse suite, Ragna!"  
She grinned widely, but then, after pushing the elevator button, realized it didn´t work anymore and she would have to climb the staircase all the way up to get to the penthouses.  
"Ugh."

Ragna coughs a laugh at Bullet's misfortune. "If you want to go ahead and climb those stairs, be my guest. It'd be a nice way to work up a sweat for bed. If not, well, here." The Reaper pulls off his heavy signature coat and slings it over the top of a nearby chair, reclining back onto his sack mattress afterwards. "It's comfy enough to sleep in; I've done that enough, certainly. Might want to dust it off though."

He sighs and folds his hands behind his head, closing his eyes. "Either way, see you in the morning."


	3. Chapter 3

Dawn breaks with Ragna blinking the sleep out of his eyes and grumbling. "Goddamn I hate mornings." he mumbles, and raises himself on his elbows to glance around. "Anyone up yet?" he asks with a yawn, and stretches slowly, working out the kinks of a night spent sleeping on burlap.

"Never been asleep to begin with..."  
Caelica yawned, rubbing her eyes. She was still sitting there, her legs crossed, smiling.  
"So do you have morning wood problems? I could help."  
Her honest and bright smile didn`t fit well to her proposal, but it was far too honest to be decieving.  
The ruby red eyes of the girl tried their hardest to meet his, taking advantage of the absence of Bullet for once.

Ragna opens his mouth to respond, and then his brain locks as he understands what Caelica just said. His eyebrow spasms and he makes an odd wheezing sound. "Uhm." he says, brain blank. "I - look, do I know you? Because you seem to, but I am in the dark here."

He sits up and stares at her harder. "Well. Actually you _do_ look familiar. I'm just not sure how. You from one of the time loops or . . . eh . . . forget it. That way be dragons."

The Reaper shakes his head in bewilderment and replies, a bit more coherently, "No, I haven't had that problem in years. So, uh, no thanks." His life, up until this point, hadn't included many people that would give him such a reaction. The sparkle in the redhead's eyes begins to make him think that's already changed.

Caelica blinked a few times at the question about time loops... it was certainly wierd to see him here, after Kokonoe told her over a hundred years had passed since the Black Beast had been defeated... but she just ignored that little fact and enjoyed it that Ragna was here again.  
"Uh... i... kind of don´t know, myself... Kokonoe just said that a lot of time passed since the Black Beast died, and I just assumed you were the Ragna i knew... or at least you look just like him, and talk like him, and act like him... Maybe you´re his son or something, who knows."  
She shrugged, smiled, and already forgot what she had been talking about earlier.

In the meantime, Bullet came down the stairs, her head just a bit messier than ususal.  
She looked a bit tired, cracked her shoulders and groaned.  
"You know maybe i should have listened to you, afterall. That was kind of a shitty experience."

Ragna shrugs. "Well, fucking Hakumen is apparently my little brother timeshifted back and thrown in a tin can." he says in disgust. "I don't see why the same thing shouldn't happen to me too. It's family luck at this point. We all time travel. And try to kill Terumi. The family that slays together, stays together."

He snorts and stands, ambling over to Caelica and offering her a hand up. "Well, wherever you came from, you're welcome here." he says frankly. "So don't sweat it. Just try not to fall over and die anytime soon."

As Bullet descends the stairs, he turns and nods at her too. "Mornin'. And yeah, I told you that would probably suck. Sleeping on the floor gives you kinks but they can be walked off. Guess what you're about to do?" Ragna smirks. "We're heading to that base now. Hope you didn't count on breakfast; I don't carry rations for three people on me, sorry."

Caelica smiled at him, gratefully taking the hand and standing up- her legs were getting a bit tired, that was for sure.  
"I´ll try to avoid that. That would be embarressing."

Bullet just yawned and shrugged it off.  
"Nevermind breakfast. The whirlpool turned into a gooy green mess over the years, same as the entire rest of the bath... and the bed smelled kind of moldy, as comfy as it was. So if i´ve got ticks or something in my hair now, i know why."  
She stretched herself again, grunting a bit while doing so.  
"Sector Seven base it is then... hope they take better care of their bathrooms."

"Welp, you get your own sleeping bag from now on then." Ragna replied flippantly, as he released Caelica's hand and started forward. "Caelica, throw up that seithr shield thingamabob again, and let's get moving. We've got trail to burn today."

~*~

The Sector Seven base is, unsurprisingly, a bunker with a huge, intimidating mechanical door locked by a complicated-looking panel beside it. Ragna ignores this entirely as he walks up to the door, raps it with his knuckles, and listens to the sound echoing through the chamber beyond.

"I've got room." he says with a nod, and rears back, then slams a fist blazing with Grimoire energy into the locked portal. The steel screeches and dents inward, crumpling as the Reaper continues to rain blows down on the blockade until with a final shriek of metal, the hinges give and the entire contraption falls to the floor, revealing an enormous dark interior warehouse that stretches away into the shadows. Ragna peeks his head inside and frowns.

"The fuck is everything?" he asks in confusion. His voice echoes out into the empty space. "Aw, damn, did they evacuate it?"

Caelica hid herself behind Bullet as Ragna tore down the massive door with brute violence, but came up quickly enough to peek into the room.  
"Huh, nothing here..."

Bullet, on the other hand, hesitated to go into the room, feeling the nasty itch of a trap. The obviously locked door was a challange for anyone without Ragna´s kind of power, but they would`t leave it locked if there was nothing inside anyways.  
They wanted him to break in, and for whatever reason that was, it couldn`t be good.  
Slowly, she approached the two and pulled Caelica back.  
"I could be wrong, but everything about this screams of a trap, Ragna." She muttered, her voice a bit shaky.  
Somehow, she didn`t want to be here.

"Same." Ragna replies, unshaken. "Best way to find out - walk in." He does exactly that, Bloodscythe on shoulder, eyes wary and left hand sheathed in crawling shadow, ready for any sort of ambush. This is the Reaper - the man who trashes armies and NOL branches with equal impunity, one of the finest swordsmen of his age.

That's why it throws him off balance when a blue-haired man in vaguely oriental dress strides out of the darkness ahead, not making even the slightest attempt to cloak his presence. "Who are you?" Ragna asks, blinking. "Wait - how long have you been _in_ here?"

"Too goddamn long." The man growls, glancing between Ragna and his companions, eyes narrowed. "I've been so incredibly bored. Bored. _BORED_!"

He launches forward and hurls a punch at Ragna. Nonplussed, the Reaper tilts the flat side of Bloodscythe into the way to block. The fist slams into the steel and keeps going - then plows into Bloodedge's side, the force blunted by the broad surface of his blade - and when the hook finishes, it slings both man and sword a dozen feet away, skittering over the damp concrete floor.

"Weak!" the bluette roars. "I woke up for this?"

"God damn it all!" Bullet yelled, charging in after Ragna was beaten away.  
"Just the man i`ve been so not wanting to see! I hope the bounty will be worth the bruises i get...!"  
Less talk, more broken bones. Activating her Armagus, she aimed at his legs with a low legsweep, trying to get the huge man off of his footing before trying anything else. Charging at him with punches would be sucide, seeing how his right fist was nearly the size of her head, and his arm could easily be her entire torso. Silently, she prayed for the best, then shut herself off of the mortal world, focusing on the fight with everything she had.

Caelica could do nothing but watch her idol and love interest fly a couple of meters, landing on his back like a ragdoll.  
That man stopped the Black Beast, easily, without backup... and this blue haired monster didn´t even have to try to knock him around.  
She used to fight with Nirvana, but she was no longer hers to command. Her magic was only defensive, healing people, protective barriers, the sort... and they all had a radius. So if she would try to protect Ragna from Seithr influence, she would protect Azreal as well as soon as he stepped into the barrier...

Azrael makes a vicious gesture with his right hand, summoning a wall of rock that takes the sweep kick for him. "Oh, you want to try?" he leers, and smashes the wall with his left hand, raining bits of shattered stone at Bullet. "Come on, little bird, and show me what you've got!"

Ragna rises with a snarl and hurls Bloodedge in a glittering arc just over Bullet's head, impaling the rock wall and intercepting the rock shower, as well as Azrael's fist, making the sword quiver again under the blow. The angle, this time, is wrong; Azrael winces as his smallest knuckle clips the thick steel. "Now!" The Reaper barks, lunging to Azrael's right to flank him.

Taking Ragna´s offense as a means to help her own, Bullet`s fist engulfed in fire due to the Armagus effects and headed straight for Azreal`s guts, aiming far away from where Ragna would strike to avoid hitting him- or getting hit by him, on accident.

Her leg was a bit bruised from the impact on the rock wall, but she wasn´t about to back down just now- if she would, she`d certainly be dead...  
She also needed to think ahead. Her left hand gripped the loose tail end of his pants and held it tight... if she`d get hit by him, he`d be dragged along- if he would be hit hard enough to fall over, he wasn`t going to... a minor disadvantage, considering that the constraint might distract him just enough for them to land a second hit on the mass of muscles they faced.

Bullet's fist impacts in Azrael's gut, and he exhales with the hit - and then grins down at her, a brutal expression. "Good!" he roars. "Good hit!" Then he clamps a hand over Bullet's where she'd grabbed his pants, and his back whipcracks forward as he launches a headbutt with all the force of a sledgehammer.

Ragna comes in from the side and takes advantage by hurtling forward in a Hell's Fang, but skidding onto his knees halfway through and connecting the technique with the back of Azrael's knee. He buckles with a hateful gasp and shoves at Bullet, trying to get some space between himself and his twin foes.

Not only was Bullet concussed by the massive head impact that left a mark on her forehead, knocking her to the ground in an instant, but Ragna`s intervention let her hand slip off of Azreal`s sash, falling to the ground alone and rolling over to try and get up as fast as she could.  
Dizzy and disoriented, she powered up her Armagus again for the next strike, the fire engulfing her tightly.  
"Guh.. that hurt like a bitch..!"  
Regardless of her condition, she rushed forward again and aimed at his lower body with a mighty uppercut, uncaring whatever it would hit vital organs or sensitive regions. Either way would be fine, so long as this madman was stopped.

Caelica, stunned at the sheer brutality the three were going at it and horrified at the sheer glee Azreal had, getting two-timed by Bullet and Ragna, finally found herself back in the real world and remembered what her Sister gave her "for emergancies, to protect herself and call for help".  
Taking a small, pistol shaped weapon out of her coat, she pointed it at Azreal and fired without hesitation, hoping it would at least not kill him..  
Instead of shooting a bullet at the bodybuilder, a ball of fire hissed from the barrel, seven or more times brighter than a candle and fast as a baseball...  
Shortly before hitting the man near his chest, it exploded in a blinding light and a loud bang, like a flare should do seventy or more meters above ground.  
"... huh?! Sis, thats... that´d be useless! ...unless..." Her lacking sense of direction was legendary, and Nine was aware of that... so in her case, an emergancy would be when she got lost somewhere...  
"...Damn you, Konoe!"

Azrael whips around, one hand clenched in a hammerfist that sweeps by Ragna's head as he ducks. The Reaper rolls to the side, ripping his blade out of the wrecked stone wall, and almost manages to swing it around when the blue berserker plows into his side and nails him to the ground with a monstrous right hook. He rears back to stomp Ragna's head into a gory mess, but then the flare explodes not four feet from his head, extracting a frustrated shriek as he flinches and stumbles back.

Ragna rolls and swings wide and low with Bloodscythe, smacking into Azrael's armored boot. It doesn't cut through, but it does knock that foot out from under him, allowing Bullet's charging uppercut to connect firmly with his crotch. He spasms, full-body, and then flails an arm at Bullet, taking an awkward sort of hop away. Azrael's eyes grow bloodshot with pain and fury as he screams, "NOT ENOUGH! NEVER ENOUGH!"

Bullet groaned in annoyance as she had been showered by burning magnesium and phosphorus fires- hotter than the flames her Armagus made, but aside from being a bit singed, it wasn´t serious.  
She didn`t even think about it, the only thing she thought about was: How the hell do we take this guy down. He just took four straight hits and a flaregun to the face, and he`s just asking for more.  
Her Armagus sure wasn`t going to put out more just because she wanted more power. If she needed it, she would have to take drastic actions...  
Dashing forward with all the strength in her legs, she partially ran up a wall and rebound off of it- at Azreal`s back. Bullet turned in mid-flight, both her boots aimed for the back of his head. If it just had enough force, maybe it would knock him unconcious... or maybe break his neck, whatever came first, she`d welcome it.

Caelica, tossing the empty flare gun away with dismay, now seeing the burn marks Ragna was covered in. Bullet was partially protected by her own fire, but Ragna had been mere inches away from the explosion... and he seemed so hopped up on Testosterone that he probably didn´t even feel it.  
It didn`t take long for her to come to the conclusion that support was the only thing she could do in this situation.  
"Ragna!"  
Running up to the Reaper, she held out both hands to him until she touched his back- her magic flew into him, healing the charred tissue, boils and burns without a scar... but that wasn`t enough, her arms wrapped around him and held him tight, still healing him constantly further in the fear he might take a hit soon.  
"Ragna... i´m sorry, i didn`t mean to hit you too!"

Azrael's posture is too off-balance, his limbs too outstretched, for him to dodge Bullet's latest assault. Her heels slam in tandem into the back of his head, and no matter his monstrous will to fight or his bloodlust, his brain cuts out from beneath him like a hangman's trapdoor. He drops.

Ragna surges forward and drops a fist into the other man's head as he drops, bouncing the blue berserker's head off the concrete floor hard enough to leave cracks in the architecture. The Reaper snarls and twitches, fingers clenching convulsively - the sundered dregs of Azrael's soul swirling in his system, howling for blood. Even the faintest taste clouds his mind with endless rage, and only the faint clutch of arms around him hold him back from savaging his fallen foe into dismembered scraps.

Consciousness rises again slowly, along with the realization that his hair is on fire. "Shit." Ragna grumbles, and reaches up to squeeze out the lingering flames dancing in his white locks. "Well, that was underwhelming. Good fighter though."

He glances down at the arms around him and then back at Caelica, with an owlish blink. "Oh hey. Thanks, I didn't notice. What spell was that? It looked pretty cool." Unsure how to respond to the sudden embrace, he awkwardly pats the woman's hands.

Bullet landed on her side, skitting across the floor due to the force she put into that kick, and panted heavily for a moment before getting back up.  
"Well... that was.. rough. Don´t ever want to do that again."  
Without much hesitation, she ran over and applied a restriction ars on Azreal, which signaled the NOL that issued the bounty where to find him and who took him in.  
With someone like Azreal, bringing him to the local office just wasn´t possible... restraining him was the most she could do, and she actually had her doubts if that was enough. Still, she didn`t want to stick around any longer.  
"Ragna? We should get moving. The NOL will be here soon, and i don`t think you wanna meet them... as far as i can see they took this bunker apart when they left, so we won´t find what we`re looking for here..."

Caelica pressed herself tightly against Ragna, the man who saved her life countless times a hundred years prior, before the magic actually restored the burnt hair as well. Slowly, she came to her senses and let go, exhaling deeply.  
"That was no spell, that was... something my sister gave me for emergancies. I never used it, so i just assumed it was some sort of gun... but now that i did, what the heck was she thinking? What if i was about to get raped or something? It would just mildly annoy the guy!"

Bullet chuckled at her outburst and crossed her arms.  
"Well, given how you set Ragna on fire, i doubt he`d be much interested in you after that."

"To be fair, unless the guy is a tank like me 'r this dumbass here, that would have gotten them off you." Ragna concedes, waving a hand at the downed Azrael. "That stings pretty bad. Plus it lit me on fire. That's a good combo for dissuading harassers." He frowns. "Not a point-blank thing though, I admit."

He rolls his shoulders uncomfortably as Caelica squeezes him then lets go - he's dense, he knows that, but her attraction is obvious. He'll have to deal with it when they get a moment alone without Bullet. Or something. "I dunno what she did to piss you off, Bullet, but lay off, yeah? Anyways, let's just leave the bastard here. I'll block the door again. Hopefully that slows him down enough for the NOL to get here."

Ragna runs an eye over the mercenary. "Thanks for the heal, Caelica. Think you can donate some of that magic juice to pulling Bullet back up to par? There's another way out of here but it's pretty rough."

Caelica nodded once, smiling lightly, then hopped over to Bullet to place some healing hands on her shoulders.

Immidantly, the mercenary sighed in relief, her aching leg ceasing to cause problems and the bruises she got from the battle ceasing to exist.  
Not even a minute later, she was left without a scratch- except from the scar she already had on her face.  
"Nah, its fine, Ragna... i didn`t mean -you- would stop to be interested in her." She smirked a bit. "You look like you might like it rough... but someone trying to assault her probably doesn't."  
Patting her shoulder as a way of saying thanks, Bullet cracked her knuckles.  
"Speaking of rough, i´m all ears- Where do we go?"

Meanwhile the young witch was unsure if she should take the flare gun along... the empty case told the whole story, that thing wasn`t gonna fire again unless she found another flare in her endless coat pockets.  
But instead of finding one, she found something entirely more potent- a modern replica of the FP-45 Liberator pistol, built out of modern materials for a more lasting experience.  
"Oh, silly me! Here`s the thing she gave me...! ...then, where DID that flare gun come from?"  
She shrugged, tucking the small pistol away for later use. It didn´t matter anyway.

"I don't." Ragna replies idly. "I get enough abuse from my little sibs as it is. Abusive affection ain't my thing because of that. Anyways, my bad for misunderstanding."

He turns and points up at the derelict monorail that runs over the city, its rails empty as they run through the abandoned port. "The monorail car's gone, but there should still be a counterweight there to switch the tracks back and forth. We hop into that and activate the maintenance procedure, which makes it check the rail for any faults or breaks in the line - and when it gets to the end of the track at the next station, we hop out and move on. Best part is that there's no surveillance on them. I use 'em to get around all the time."

Ragna scowls. "Bad part is that it's a bumpy-ass ride. So let's head back to that hotel place and grab as many blankets as we can, unless you want to arrive at our next stop a bruise exhibit."

Then he blinks at the pistol Caelica extracts from her gun case. "The shit was that fifteen seconds ago? . . . Nevermind, I'm glad you've got it now. Come on, girls."


	4. Chapter 4

Luckily for them, the weather wasn`t going to get rainy soon... it might start to pour later, but that wasn`t something to think about before it happened, right?  
Loaded with seven blankets, Bullet followed Ragna`s footsteps, and close behind her, Caelica carried four.. with some trouble, but she was holding up well.

"How is this blanket going to protect me if those ancient tracks break in half and we fall out of the sky...?!" She complained, but Bullet just groaned.

"Use it as a parachute and hope for the best, then. Actually, don´t worry, Ragna will save us all."

Caelica sighed lightly and reminded herself not to look down when they were in the railway car. "Oops, sorry, i forgot he was the incredible Hulk."

"Nope, we brought him down earlier today. Ragna´s just Deadpool without the silly antics."

The station is a towering carcass of metal; like most noncivilian areas, it isn't designed with cosmetics in mind, and naked steel gleams in the noon sunlight everywhere, along with the sheet metal floors. It's not rickety, but it manages to feel like it in a sort of jury-rigged way. The counterweight itself is a steel hemisphere on the underside of the track with a door welded into its side. It looks like a little more than a cozy fit.

Ragna glances back from where he fiddles with the control board of the track, brow wrinkled in confusion. "You city girls are weird." he says. "Who the hell are they? And more importantly, why can't I be them, eh? What is it I'm lacking?"

The quirk at the corner of his mouth betrays him, and he turns back to the board and flips a switch. The door in the counterweight hisses open, and he nods towards it, lifting his eight blankets and carrying them inside, ducking to get under the low roof. "Plaster the walls with the blankets so we don't bash into them." he instructs, turning about as he drapes the interior with his load of textile cargo. It looks like an economy-class carriage without any of the cushions or windows, with a crate of tools taking up most of the leg room; those, he drapes an extra two blankets over to prevent scraping. "Can you both fit in here, even? It's a tight squeeze."

Bullet climbed inside first, plastering the walls with blankets.. as he commented on the limited room though, she just waved him off.  
"Oh, don`t worry. It`ll fit. In the worst case scenario, we`ll just smother you with our supple young bodies."

Alright, enough teasing for the while. Caelica seemed glad that the car had no windows, though she was a bit shaky when she climbed inside.  
"...I used to be scared of heights as a kid... but this... this is ridiculous. Even the train station is fifty feet above ground or something!"  
Shuddering, the witch continued to attach blankets everywhere, using every screw that was poking out of the metal and every sharp edge as an attachment point for them- surely they would fly everywhere if the ride was as bumpy as Ragna claimed to be.  
"...alright, i`m done." Placing her last blanket over the toolbox, Caelica sighed and sunk to her knees, sitting against a wall that was now cushioned and comfy.

"That's a worst-case scenario?" Ragna quips, hopping atop the crate and awkwardly trying to fit a place to sit atop the poky tools, leaving the rest of the car for the girls. "What happens if we have a good day for once?"

Groaning, he stretches out atop the crate as best he can, and presses a button in the pad set into the ceiling of the counterweight. The door closes, and the miniature car jerks into motion, slamming Ragna into the wall with a thump - be'd been near neither seat at the time. "Ow." he mutters. "Well, at least we're in motion finally."

He glances down at Caelica. "You comfy down there, lady? And don't worry - these are actually the most secure parts of the rail. They're affixed directly to the track, and unlike the cars, they have automatic breaks should there be an interruption in the track. Kinda pointless if your repair gadget gets trashed trying to fix things, ain't it?"

"So instead of falling out of the sky, they get stuck and we`ll have to climb out. Brilliant."  
Caelica complained, hugging her legs and hoping for the best.

Bullet was actually still standing, athough rolling her eyes at Ragna`s comment- the mere thought of any intimate actions while this bucket rattled, shook and made whirring noises from its old electric motor wasn`t exactly thrilling. As it slowly picked up speed, though, she decided it`d be better if she took a seat on the ground and held on to something- the handlebar for getting in and out was covered with the blankets, so she just positioned herself in one corner and found the support of two walls more reassuring than of just one... or her legs for that matter.  
"...i hope this isn`t gonna take very long." Was all she said about the situation.

"It won't." Ragna answers, shifting uncomfortably atop the crate, and finally bracing himself between two walls by pressing his feet firmly against the opposite one. "We'll arrive at the next station in maybe five minutes. That should be Ibukido, and that's in Ikaruga - I'm sort of welcome there, so it shouldn't be much trouble to grab an actual hotel room and get settled there. From there we hitch a cargo flight to Wadatsumi and Kokonoe. Or really whatever - I don't know what your all's plans are once we reach civilization again."

He rolls his shoulders, trying to ignore the itching cramp in them. "I know I want a goddamn shower. Can't imagine either of you would skimp on that either."

Bullet cleared her throat and nodded.  
"Yeah, that was kind of my plan in the hotel penthouse... too bad the whirlpool, shower and bathtub had developed life from lifelessness."  
A minute pause, then she looked over at him rather concerned.  
"... what if that doesn`t work? We were delibertly transported hundreds of miles away, got no idea who did it and why... what if it happens again? Don`t even wanna think about it."

Caelica snorted lightly as well.  
"My plans... Kokonoe didn´t even finish telling me what the hell happened in those hundred years i`ve missed. Except for maybe Jubei and Hakumen, all my friends are gonna be dead... not sure if i can return to my time, now that i`m here and technically am there as well..."  
She sighed deeply.  
"I can`t think of anything aside from a shower either."

"If it happens again I track down Jubei and he uses Musashi to cut whatever's making it happen in two." Ragna answers, tone uncompromising. "I know where he is almost all the time - an Ars we use to keep track of each other - and that Nox of his cuts right through any kind of spell that's yet been made. I'm not prone to surrender, lady, and neither should you be, because I'm gonna drag both your asses out of whatever mess this is right along with me."

He turns and claps a hand on Caelica's shoulder. "You have friends now." Ragna states firmly. "You've got me. Alright? If you don't know anywhere else to go, you can tag along with me. God knows the stupid cat does that enough anyways, I won't mind a little company that is actually sane."

The counterweight creaks to a halt and Ragna nods at the door. "And besides - the worst part of our trip is already over. We socked out a crazy man, Bullet gets her bounty, and we get an actual damn bathroom. What more could you want?"

As the door opened, the rain that had been foreshadowed earlier was pouring down on Ibukido. As such, the station and everything surrounding it was lifeless, everyone who might have occupated the streets moved into their shelters.  
Bullet took a look outside, grimaced and then managed to smirk wryly at Ragna.  
"... an umbrella."

Caelica was off the best, already having a coat on for that kind of weather, and Bullet simply soldiered through the rain- it wasn`t life threatening, so fuck it- as they went for the nearest affordable hotel in the city.  
A full twenty minutes later, Caelica and Bullet stopped in the lobby of a motel- probably built during the time the monorail station was, but still run by someone- and the older one looked around her two companions.  
"So..." The mercenary said. "Since i have no way of telling if they caught Azreal or not, i got no idea if i recieved the bounty or not... so, can you two afford a room of your own...?"  
Caelica looked at her deeply, saying nothing.  
Bullet sighed a moment later.  
"Right. You don´t have any kind of modern currency on hand... i forgot that."

Ragna shakes his head, shedding raindrops in a spray of water, and extracts a bottle from an inside pocket. It's one of the trinkets from the mining attraction hotel they had stayed at - and it's full to the brim with gold dust stolen from behind the counter, glittering in the bright lights of the motel. "Not money, no." he notes. "But I bet I can barter this for a room, what do you think?" Pocketing it with a grin, he saunters up to the counter and begins negotiations.

Ten minutes later, with half the bottle sold to the motel, Ragna flops atop the bed of the best room in the establishment, sighing with relief as the feathery mattress bounces him up into the air. "I done good." he says, satisfied. "Who wants shower first?"

The room is a masterpiece, all soft cushions and couches and luxuries, with a fully-stocked fridge of wines that make even Ragna, the cooking master, raise an eyebrow upon seeing them. The bathroom is nothing short of opulent - the bathtub is an actual swimming pool set into the floor. It's a slice of heaven; for a night, at least.

Bullet raised her hand the second he asked that question, grinning wide.  
"I`ve been waiting for you to ask that!"  
Without even another word, she rushed over to the bathroom, closing the door behind her, though she was in such a hurry that she didn`t even lock it.  
Besides, she was with friends and had no need to lock herself in.

Caelica in the meantime looked around in the room, standing in the middle of it and folded her hands.  
"I... i can`t even bring myself to sit anywhere- everything is so nice and tidy and clean, i feel like i´m staining the room just by being here..."  
She smiled weakly and unsecure, thinking about simply leaning against the wall until it was her turn.

Ragna barks a laugh as Bullet rushes past, and bounces on the bed again contentedly. It's _far_ more luxurious than anything he's ever slept on, and he plans to take full advantage of it. "Caelica!" he calls, watching the girl stand awkwardly off to the side. "Heads up!"

And then he hurls a pillow at her face.

"Stop being skitzy and enjoy yourself." the boy says, folding one leg over the other and leaning back, closing his eyes and thoroughly luxuriating in the furniture. "They wash and clean everything after every guest anyways. Be kinda stupid not to, yeah?"

Caelica nearly fell over when she got hit by a pillow out of -more or less- nowhere.  
She blinked twice, seeing the Reaper lie down and chill out like he used to when she knew him in the past.  
Odd. But not unenjoyable.  
"Ragna..." She muttered, picking up the pillow and tossing it his direction.  
It seems to miss him at first, but as it hits the wall and plops to the ground, it lands on his face regardless..  
In the meantime, the witch took off her shoes and jumped on the bed, knees first to join in.

Ragna lets out a muffled cough when the pillow lands on his face, and he swats it aside with a swing of his arm, but grins at Caelica anyways. "That's the spirit." he says, watching the bed bounce her into the air in response, the ripples of the mattress hopping him into the air as well. "Enjoy yourself. Don't kick holes in the wall, that's my only request. I'd like a non-drafty sleep for once in my life."

He raises an eyebrow at the girl and asks, "What am I like where you're from, anyways? Have I got as much a stick up my ass as Hakumen? Please tell me no. I'd die of starch overdose."

After briefly thinking about kicking a hole in the wall, Caelica settles down and rests her hands in her lap, looking at him puppy eyed.  
At his question, though, she has to think for a while.  
"Uhhh... well you don´t look too different, you just can`t use your right arm and your right eye, so... you just let your right sleeve hang down uselessly too. As for your character... i can`t see much of a difference. The Ragna i know is just a bit less.. rude sometimes."  
She smirked, holding back a giggle at this comment.  
"Aaand... he hates vampires and Terumi for reasons he doesn`t know about anymore. Thats it."

Ragna nods in approval at the last bit. "Good. At least this guy knows what he's on about. Or, well, he doesn't, but he's sticking to his guns. I can approve of that." He peers up at the doe-eyed look at Caelica's face, vaguely uncomfortable with the undisguised adoration - it's not something he had ever run into on his own before. "Sounds like I lost the Grimoire when Nu went Beast, then. Dunno what happened to the eye, though. I like the damn things, even if I forgot to pick up a matching set." he frowns. "Hope I didn't lose it shaving or something, that would be embarassing."

Caelica shook her head after being a bit shocked by the thought of that.  
"Oh, no no no, he still has it, its just... non-functioning. Oh, i forgot... My sister didn`t like him at first, so she slammed him into the ground when they first met... pretty much literally. But that changed later."  
She looked down, still smiling a bit.  
"I dunno if you share that trait, but... despite the rough edges and the attitude, people believed in him, followed him and fought with him very quickly."  
The witch looked even further away, blushing slightly.  
"And... uh, with me... he managed to do even more than that. You might`ve noticed that."

"Well, it's kind of how I met everybody." Ragna says, droll. "They kick my ass. I dunno why anyone's ever scared of me, considering that."

He turns and glances curiously at Caelica, then reaches out and plants a hand on her shoulder. "Been meaning to talk to you about that." Ragna says, gentle. "I know this other guy you know is supposed to be me, but evidently he had a few memory problems, and moreover he probably went through some stuff I didn't. I'm _not_ him, not exactly, and I don't want to be a replacement for him either. I'm my own man."

His head lowers as he looks Caelica in the eye. "So. I'm Ragna. Pleased to meet you, Cae."

Caelica beamed as he introduced himself properly.  
"Hi! I´m Caelica, and we... kind of already met." She blinked a bit at that. "Its just hard to see the difference between you two... but i`m fine the way it is. If you love Bullet, i`m not going to butt in and stop you."  
The witch smiled honestly and leaned against the wall behind her, almost determined to say something but she ends up not doing it.

Ragna blinks.

"What?" he says blankly. "Bullet? Why the hell would I -"

He frowns and stares at Caelica. "Look, we flirt because it's fun, but I'm doing the same damn thing with you here now. We don't know each other well enough to jump to the vows and declarations of love yet, because we just aren't familiar with each other yet for that."

Ragna kicks off his boots and folds his legs beneath him, his stare turning amused. "How long have you been hauling that belief around, eh?"

Caelica shrugs, blinking once.  
"Well i`ve woken up in this totally unfamilliar enviroment and you run around with this girl, you two flirt around all the time and frankly you get along really well... so i just assumed its been going on for some time."  
Shrugging, she stretched herself once, spraying out on the bed.  
"How was i supposed to know you didn`t know her either?

From the bathroom, a mercenary with wet hair and a confused look is spawned into the room, dressed in merely a bathrobe and an expression that said"What the hell did i just walk into".  
Finally, after a few seconds, she opened her mouth to talk.  
"Did i miss the party bit of this sleepover or are you two just that lame?"

"You forgot to bring the snacks and the booze so the party was cut from the program." Caelica pointed out.

Ragna shrugs. "Met Bullet at the same time I met you. I've known her two days total." He grins. "And you coulda picked that up by me having to introduce myself to Bullet. You were awake for that, as I recall."

He turns to wave at Bullet and cocks his head at her. "You know I wonder if it's possible to inherit white hair." he says curiously. "Because you are literally the only person I've seen with it naturally. It can't be that common."

The Reaper sits up and kicks off the bed. "The booze actually is part of the program." he notes, ambling over to the fridge and extracting a bottle of perrigone from the fridge, which he hefts up to display to the others. "And we do, in fact, get room service, so if you're hungry - go ahead and order. It's the one time you'll get food as good as mine without me cooking it. Take advantage - I certainly plan to."

Caelica beamed.  
"Then we just need pyjamas and some corny outdated music and we have the perfect sleepover party."  
Hopping off the bed, she began to see through the closets in the room to find any sleeping attire in their sizes... in the meantime, Bullet stood in front of the heater and let herself dry off.

"And then we get drunk and on the next day we forgot everything that happened, two of us are pregnant, one wakes up in the street without pants on and various other desasters occur." The merc closed her eyes with a grimace. "I`ve seen it happen. I was the only one to make it out sober and untouched."  
A sigh, and a dramatic pause later, Bullet finally adresses Ragna`s question. "But my hair isn´t something that happens naturally... i think its a genetic error or something, my parents sure didn`t have it."

"I'll concede the managing of the sleepover to you, that is not my area of expertise." Ragna says to Caelica, as he sets the wine aside. With a smile, he saunters on past Bullet and bumps her hip with his. "I have respect for our self-control and blushing virginities. I don't think we're going to lose either one soon. But if it makes you feel better, you can be the winemaster in charge of rationing out the alcohol. Since you're so experienced in this matter."

He cracks a smile back at the mercenary and then drapes his thick coat on a hanger, leaving him in casual clothes again. "Caelica, if you're not in the shower in two minutes I'm taking it, ya hear?" he calls across the room.

From inside the closet, a little yelp could be heard, then Caelica exits it again, a bit dustier than before.  
"They didn`t clean that one up. I demand a refund." She commented, then darted off to the bathroom.

Bullet sighed, watching her go like that.  
"I doubt we`ll get one just for a dusty closet. Maybe if we break a window and claim its always been that way."  
Then, pulling out a few bottles of wine, she starts to arrange them in order of dry to sweet, placing them all on the table along with three wine glasses and a corkscrew they`ve convinently provided as well.  
"Jesus, some of those are older than i am." She commented, looking through the various labels. "I hope they haven`t gone bad over the years or i`ll really demand a refund."

"You complain about being dusty as you run to the bathtub." Ragna comments drolly at Caelica's fleeing tail. "Clearly, a tragedy."

He shakes his head and turns back to Bullet. "I think breaking a window would get us thrown out. Let's not jump at that option, much as I am for property damage." Ragna says thoughfully, walking back over to beside Bullet and choosing a sweet red that he uncorks promptly. The hiss of released air is potent enough that he leans back. "_Damn_." he says, admiringly. "Get a whiff of this, Bullet. This is quality stuff."

The odor is rich and deep, the sort of scent that you can feel on your tongue already; Ragna scours up a pair of glasses and pours a pair of fingers for two into them, pausing afterwards to set the bottle back and scoop up his glass. "To capitalistic plundering." Ragna says with a wry smile.

"Thats big words for a brawny guy like you." She chuckled, also taking a glass and simply letting the two clash together briefly.  
"Just cheers is fine."  
As she took a sip, ancient alcohol burned in her mouth, but it was a common feeling, nothing that put her off. Rather, it was a nice taste- faintly of the berries it originally came from, but it was like every year it spent in a barrel the taste refined and left its own unique flavor in the mix.  
Bullet breathed out slow and deeply, savoring the taste until it vanished at last.  
"So... we get drunk and fall asleep before our resident teenager even comes back from showering. Thats a good plan."

Ragna's cheeks flush a little. "I was a book brat back before I went on my little personal crusade." he mutters, glancing away and out the window. "Had to spend a lot of time around my little siblings taking care of them. Lots of time spent sitting on my can. Reading was a way to pass it."

He runs a finger around the rim of the glass and takes a sip, sighing at the pleasant taste. "This is some hella nice stuff." The Reaper notes, surprise passing over his face as he lifts the bottle and inspects the label. "A thirty-year vintage is nothing to scoff at, I'd guess."

Ragna leans over and bumps shoulders with Bullet. "Nah, I want to see her taking her first drink of wine." Ragna notes with a faintly evil smile. "Let's give her the whiskey test. Tell her it's best to down a whole shotglass in one go."

Bullet widened her eyes, then groaned as the idea began to sink in.  
"Oh lord. I think i`ll count the seconds until she falls asleep in the middle of the room."  
Her eyes peered over to the bathroom door, wondering how long it would take for her. She had short hair herself, but Caelica`s probably covered her butt when it was untied... that had to take a while.  
"I wonder when she´s gonna notice i used the only towel they hung up there."

Ragna snorts, first at Bullet's reaction and then at her comment, covering his face in response as he snickers. "Stop or she's gonna hear me." he laughs, choking down his amusement. "I'd hate to ruin the surprise."

He shakes his head and wanders over to the closet, extracting one of the few non-dusty towels and shaking it out just in case. "You're an evil little child, aren't you?" he notes, moving over to the bathroom door and hanging the towel on the handle. "Well, from my limited experience, I'd presume she'd just ask if I'd like to join the costume party. Since neither of you are much for overdressing."

Ragna tilts his head. "A fact I can appreciate, but I'll try not to stare." he says with a crooked grin. "Long as you promise not to steal my last towel too. I have my limits."

Bullet held back a laugh, but cracked an evil smile. To help keep his promise, she pulled the bathrobe tighter inwards, tying the sash in front to keep it together.  
"You`re the man, you don`t need one. Showing off your packs and guns is part of your job." She shrugged with a grin. "Though i could probably show off some too, its not as enjoyable for our young one." She paused for a moment, then thought that over. "I`m assuming that, at least."

Just in time, a little squeak can be heard from the bathroom as Caelica DID discover the missing towel.  
It was just a matter of time until she would figure to look on the other side of the door.

Ragna ambles away from the door, smile growing more and more wry. "Fine, I'll just throw on a pair of pants and strut until Caelica has a heart attack." he comments. "That'll take about twenty seconds. That or she'll jump me and you'll have to shield your innocent eyes, or step in as our wisely-appointed moderator of wine and pregnancy."

He pauses, then turns a blank look on Bullet.

"Why is it that we're treating the hundred-plus year old girl in this group like a kid? There's some kind of backwards logic here. I mean besides time travel, that's all kinds of fucked up without me even thinking about it."

"And why do you think i`m so innocent?" Bullet remarked, blinking a bit. "I`ve probably had more body contact than you and her combined."  
Slowly, the bathroom door opened, and like a cautious serpent crawling out of a pit, one of Caelia`s hands reached around to grab the towel and disappear as quickly as it appeared.  
"Caelica IS a teenager, there`s no way around it. Just because we`re living in a time far ahead in the future doesn`t mean she`s any older."  
Bullet tapped her chin, thinking that over.  
"At least i think thats how that works."

Ragna shrugs. "You've probably had more experience, no arguments, but you haven't had more body contact." he corrects. "I lived with the Kakas for awhile, and traveled with one for most of a year. They're very, _very_ clingy. I am entirely willing to bet I've been hugged, climbed over, jumped on, piggyback rode, crawled under, and unabashedly groped more than you have. No doubt."

He grins at Bullet's look. "Quit changing your argument, you were calling her the same thing earlier. Either she's an old hag or she's younger and prettier than you are." Ragna rolls his eyes exaggeratedly, taking another sip of wine. "So long as you keep your catfights nice and public for me to see."

Then he cracks a grin and scratches the back of his head. "Though I suppose that means I have to be genre-savvy too." he muses. "Don't think I can pull off a nosebleed. Crack me in the nose so I can go stare at Caelica for awhile."

Bullets grin widened. "Should i? Azreal told me i have a 'good' punch, so i`m expecting you to fly into a wall. Though i`ll gladly take the honor of tugging her bathrobe open."  
A second later, Bullet actually felt a tug on the sash of her bathrobe from behind, as Caelica had left the bathroom and overheard what she was talking about.  
To her support, the robe actually held together long enough for her to cross her arms over her chest, even without the sash.  
"I think he didn`t mean that, Bullet." Caelica said with a smile, fully devoting herself to the role of the evil mistress.  
Her hair was already tied togerher, though her ponytail sat lower to let the hair dry out better, and her bathrobe fit her small frame better than it did for Bullet.

"Aw man, don't bring up that psycho in the middle of a good flirting streak." Ragna groans, throwing up his hands. "Can you imagine him trying to buy flowers? Or reserve a table at a resturant?"

He glances around, licks his finger, and then spikes his hair up in the characteristic style of the blue berserker. "THIS TABLE IS MINE BY RIGHT OF MIGHT!" he booms, planting a foot on a chair and stabbing a finger at an invisible infidel. "COME TAKE IT IF YOU DARE! THE MIGHTY AZRAEL WILL SMITE YOU DOWN!"

A pause.

"Or something like that." Ragna says with a shrug, looking back at the others just in time for Bullet to snap her arms closed on her newly loosened robe. "Shit, horrible timing on my part. Can I get a replay?"

He gives a thumbs-up to Caelica over Bullet's shoulder. "Nice response, Caelica! Audience approved. Feel any better, properly sanitized?"

"You might if you`re a good boy and take a shower yourself. You`re the last one."  
Bullet responded, a bit stressed, but she feels like she -could- let loose if she wanted. Probably a side effect of the alcohol, most likely not.  
"In the meantime i`ll get this pesky brat back for what she just did."

Caelica showed her tongue to Bullet and went over to bounce on the bed.  
"Come and get me then~"  
Somehow it seemed like she was drunk before she even took a sip.

Ragna grins and turns his back on the others with a wave. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do." With that unhelpful caution, he wanders into the bathroom and shuts the door behind him.

A moment later he darts out and snatches a towel from the closet, shaking it out. "Almost forgot mine." he says, and sticks his tongue out at the girls, before secreting himself away in the bathroom again.

~*~

Ten minutes later, Ragna exits the shower with a stretch, towel looped over his bare shoulders comfortably to absorb the water dripping from his damp hair. "That feels fantastic." he sighs, glancing around for the girls, adjusting his pants to make sure they stay decent. They're the loose hospitality variety, and keep sliding down his hips. "Where'd you two get to and where are the bodies hidden?"

Bullet raised a hand from the bed, where she and Caelica were spread out and were watching a talkshow on TV.  
They both seemed pretty exhausted, but both their bathrobes were still on, more or less.  
"We`re here, but i hid the bodies in the fridge. Don`t drink too much of that fucking wine. Its potent."

Caelica, almost dozing off, raised her head and turned around to greet Ragna as well, her hand plopping down on Bullet`s stomatch afterward.  
"...whoa, what?"  
She began to rub it.  
"Jebus, your tummy is all muscle, isn`t it!? That impact felt like hitting a rock!"  
Bullet glanced at her for that comment, but then chose to ignore it.

Ragna nods, ambling over to the bed and plopping down on it besides the girls, stretching out on the bed. It's easily huge enough for all three of them, and he grants them space enough that it's not awkward. "Yeah." he says with a nod, unsurprised at Bullet's definition. "Bullet's a grappler. Most of her strength comes from her stomach, being able to duck and weave and grab. That's called core strength, and it also defines how well you take a hit too, because without it you get the wind knocked out of you with even a tap."

He smirks. "And Azrael did a hell of a lot more than tap you. That was impressive, by the way. Not many people can rumble on my level."

The Reaper glances at Caelica. " . . . And don't you get started on feeling bad just because you couldn't fight because we'd have died _long_ before Azrael of leukemia or some other disease shit if you hadn't been there. You're queen of your own domain here, lady."

"If i`m a queen, then kiss my ring, peasent." Caelica commanded, holding out her limb hand to him, but aside from a stern look, didn`t do any more.  
Instead, she snuggled up to Bullet, who just rolled her eyes in response and kept watching TV.  
"She`s really fluffy otherwise, Ragna." The girl commented, rubbing her face against her chest without even a shred of shame. One glass seemed enough for her.

Bullet slowly turned her head to Ragna, raising an eyebrow at him.  
"It was your idea to give her alcohol, wasn`t it...?"

Ragna scoops up Caelica's hand and kisses her knuckles, unabashed. "By your leave." he murmurs, flashes a grin at her, and then rolls away before she can retaliate.

"It totally was my idea." he answers, almost proud. "Look at her now all . . . not grown up and yet shameless. I'm so proud, and almost horrified. I'm entirely mixed on how to feel, except that this situation is made of awesome."

Ragna sets a finger on his chin. "I might be mildly experiencing some of that wine myself, except I'm not getting less wordy." he muses. "I think I owe you thanks for exposing my hidden natural talent in being silly and contradictory." He wobbles to his knees - more because the bed shakes under him than any lack of balance - and bows to Bullet. "Miss Bullet - whatever your last name is - you've been an inspiration and a tease. Thank you."

He grins, and the silliness and humor falls away for a moment to show that he's not drunk at all, but the poorly-suppressed delight in his face and smile is no lie. "But seriously. Thanks. It's been an awesome couple days with y'all. Better than I've had in years."

"You`d be the first one to hear my real name, Ragna, and i don´t think you wanna hear it." Bullet responds with a deadpan face, still trying to shift around so Caelica`s face rests on the matress rather than on her assets.  
A smile crosses her face a few seconds later, and Caelica makes a happy sound as she further buries her face in Bullet, who`s the only one to respond to him.  
"I just wish we would have met under different cirumstances. But with people like us this is pretty much the only way we could ever meet... neither of us would`ve met Caelica normally and i`m pretty sure we two would`ve just been trying to... murder each other."  
That last part of the sentence came out with a lump in her throat, despite the fact that this kind of stuff was normal in Kagutsuchi and the surrounding cities these days... Ragna himself told her thats how he met half the people he knows.

Ragna smiles a bit and lies back down, propping his head on an elbow. "We're worse at it than you think." he says. "There's not very many of us out there - I mean people able and willing to cut loose their ties and wander. Never have been. And perhaps because of that I've never tried especially hard to cut down someone that's found me on their own. You have to respect a traveler's resolve."

He nods towards Bullet. "So, yeah, if we had met otherways, we'd have some bruises - like the man said, you have a good punch too. But you or I would hardly be dead. Just like one of my best friends is the highest-ranking ace of the NOL Academy, and I've worked with Relius Clover's son, and I've traded punches with Hakumen. People who have got nothing in common with me, save for violence, but after our meeting of the ways none of us are dead. Life, for those people willing to wander it, is too precious to squander."

Ragna reaches up and flicks Bullet on the forehead. "So chill." he says. "In this universe or any other, I'm pretty sure the only thing we beat each other is innuendo."

Bullet blinks twice, then chuckles a bit.  
"You really have been a bookworm before, i can see that. A caveman like Azreal couldn`t come up with a speech like that out of nowhwhere. Still.."  
She returned the flick she`s been given with a smirk.  
"Do something productive or sleep. Caelica`s keeping me busy but i`m sure she`ll fall asleep in five minutes... maybe four. Then i`m tied down and i`ll have to succub to that fate as well."  
She briefly looked at the ponytail clad head that was buried deeply in her bosom. "...i think she`s drooling on me. Or maybe thats a bleeding nose, i can`t tell."

Ragna gives Bullet a peaceful smile, catches her hand, and turns it up. His lips press against her palm gently. "Think I'll take that sleeping option." he murmurs, squeezing her hand once before he releases and rolls onto his back, snatching a pillow for his own and sliding it beneath his head. "You get some rest too, miss incognito. If the bed bug bites - or does anything else with her mouth - she's ticklish under her arms."

A last wry smile, and then he closes his eyes and drifts off to sleep.

In the middle of the night, during a strange dream experience, Caelia`s head moves away from Bullet`s chest and over to Ragna... where she finds much more comfort despite the lack of cushion.  
She continues to drool there, while her body is sprayed out all over Bullet in the meantime... who gratefully has a deep sleep and doesn`t notice. Yet.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: This RPG took place before Remix Heart Chapter 11 was out, so Ragna falsely states that the Mage`s guild no longer exists. Just saying before someone points it out.

Ragna wakes up with crusted drool on his chest and hair in his mouth, along with a hangover. It's sad to note that this is, in fact, not a bad morning by his standards. He takes a moment to recognize the head on his chest as Caelica's, then pokes it. "Cae." he mumbles, wincing. "Your drool is sticky. Get up or get off or something."

Bullet is nearby, in what looks like a seriously uncomfortable position. He decides not to wake her just yet. She's going to have kinks.

A mumble was heard, then the head of the smaller girl slowly rose up to face his.  
Her red-brown eyes slowly opened, still sleepy and wide, with a bit of drool hanging from her mouth as Caelica grinned stupidly at him.  
"Morning Ragna."  
With that, she climbed off of Bullet and fully onto Ragna, yawning into her hand. Uncaring for what he might see when she was above him in a loose bathrobe, she stretched like a kitten for a while, then she plopped back down, her face now buried in his pillow.

Ragna grunts as Caelica climbs onto him, and opens his mouth to tell her off, when she stretches and the loose bathrobe slides open completely for a moment, brainlocking him with the sight of her bare breasts. That feeds right into his usual morning problem and complicates things immensely. Then he remember that it's his freaking adoptive mother that he's getting turned on by and his skull just about turns itself inside out, which then immediately compounds his hangover.

The upshot of this is that Ragna lets out a half-groan, half-hopeless chuckle and closes his eyes again. "Glad you're comfortable." His hands fidget for a moment, unsure of where to go with half-naked family on top of him, but settle for stroking her hair. It's a nice, neutral, non-skin area. "I gather you feel pretty good this morning."

Caelica muttered something into his pillow which was supposed to mean "I´m sleepy" but instead came out as "mhm mphhmm."  
Rolling over slightly to make her tired eyes face him, a light smile came up.  
"My analysis has shown that Bullets jawoobies are not suitable for drowning in them, which means they`re smaller than those of my big sis. But only ever so slightly. In other news, i really needed that sleep."  
While Bullet and Ragna had been sleeping in the hotel, Caelica had stayed up and despite the fact that she had been knocked out before, being unconcious didn`t regain any of her energy which left her exhausted, though not tired the day after her spawning.  
"I still don´t know whats going on, any of it, but waking up next to... or on top of you guys feels good."

Ragna snorts helplessly, and squeezes Caelica a bit in his arms. "I'm glad that I measure up as a pillow even with my lack of jawoobies. You've had a rough couple days, what with being dumped out here in nowhere with the face of a guy you . . . really look up to . . . pasted on a stranger, and with a nasty concussion to boot."

He bites his lip and contemplates his options. Bullet, presumably, has a place to go. Caelica, though, is a century out of time, and totally displaced on top of that.

"The Mage Guild isn't a thing anymore, but I'll try to find someplace for you to fit in." Ragna says. "Dunno how much I can do, being a fugitive and all, but I figure anything less makes me kind of a jerk."

"If Terumi is still alive then i fear for the worst anyway." Caelica`s eyes looked away from him. "If a hundred years passed, surely Sis must be dead by now, one way or the other... and if he`s loose, i can imagine what happens. Get the Alpha unit, destroy Amaterasu and then he`ll go after the Lynchpin."  
She rubbed her temple and groaned.  
"Ugh. Thinking bad. Hangover bad. Head hurts."

Bullet, on the other side of the bed, shifted around and cracked her eyes open lightly, hearing the noise of the two.  
"... I smell morning wood."  
She commented, casting her eyes down on Ragna to a buldge in the bedsheets.

"You spend a lot of time inspecting those closely, do you?" Ragna replies dryly to Bullet. "That happens when a half-naked lady gets on top of me, yes." He shakes his head, and glances back at Caelica. "Don't you worry about Terumi. I've hunted that bastard every day for years - he's not about to get away with anything, not again. I've done fucked up his plans twice as it is."

He smirks in satisfaction at the fond memories of pissing Terumi off. "Anyways, my point is I'm on top of it. But right now - you're on top of me, and that's causing problems that Bullet has raised. Mind getting off?"

Caelica doesn´t even blush when he adresses this, and rolls over to Ragna`s side.  
Bullet in the meantime grins weakly and slowly sits up.  
"Didn`t mean to interrupt you or anything... and i think i didn`t raise that problem, but she did~"  
A giggle came from his side.  
"Raised it up vertica-aah!"  
She actually managed to fall out of the bed and land on her side, rubbing her head from hitting it on the soft carpet floor.  
"Ow. It always has to be my head, doesn`t it." She complained, then slowly rose up, inching over to the bathroom to fix her bedhair.

Ragna snorts again, that helpless smile resurfacing. "Teases, the lot of you." He mutters, sitting up and stretching to the soundtrack of popping bones. "What would you do without a red-blooded male her to frustrate? Flash the waiting staff and watch them stand sideways for the rest of the day?"

He rolls off to the side of the bed and reaches beneath it, procuring a trio of loose T-shirts, one of which he tosses to Bullet. "I dunno your sizes, so I had them send up a pretty big shirt." he says, almost apologetic. "Better than being too small, best I can figure. And it _is_ a change of clothes. We've been needing those pretty bad of late."

Ragna glances at Caelica. "Speaking of which, if you want to use the bathroom, hurry up. We all need to freshen up."

"I`ll be quick about it~" Caelica said from the bathroom, which she kept open since she was only going to do her hair anyway.  
Bullet, on the other hand, held on the shirt he got her to see if it theoretically fit her... there was the noticeable barrier in the front, but with a bit of tugging, that wouldn`t be a problem. Clothes were fricking miracles these days, she had seen tops that frankly seemed to defy gravity sometimes.  
"Thanks." She responds, patting his shoulder with a smirk. "I would try it on, but that would only make things worse... so i`ll wait till our youth faction is done combing her hair." A thought later, she grins. "So does this mean the Grim Reaper will actually wear something else for a change?"

Ragna gives the t-shirt he selected for himself with a gimlet eye. "Yes, though I doubt I'm going to enjoy it." he mumbles, and slides into the article of clothing with a grunt, popping his head out of the collar and pulling at the fringe until it all fit, more or less. He grimaces and fidgets with the right sleeve - it's sticking to his arm. "Fucking fabrics never go well with this thing."

Rather than fuck around with it further, he just tears the sleeve off entirely, neatens the ragged edge with a few further rips, and nods in satisfaction. "That'll do. Now I just need pants. Matter of fact, we _all_ need pants. Apparently they're in short supply here."

Ragna stands and heads to the door, waving over his shoulder. "I'll hit the tourist shop and grab anything else we need, and then we can move on, alri-"

He opens the door. On the other side, frozen in place, are a squad of NOL soldiers in wetsuits, one holding an unarmed breaching charge about two inches away from where the door had been. They gawk up at the Reaper as he frowns.

"Well fuck y'all." He says, pulls the door off its hinges, and swings it like a club, demolishing the entryway and scattering the soldiers like bowling pins.

Bullet blinked at the oneslaught, but quickly grabbed her Armagus and slid it on, where it automatically wrapped tightly around her arm.  
"Hey, leave a few for me. I`m in dire need for some morning gymnastics."  
With this, she hurries after him, cracking her knuckles. She`d have to fight in a bathrobe, but so be it. Rather that than naked, or in a puppet suit.

Blissfully unaware of all this, Caelica combs her hair until its tied into a neat ponytail again and she smiles at her mirror image.  
"Ragna will love us like this, won`t he, my dear mirror? Yes he will." She whispered, giggling deviously. She wasn`t fooling anyone, but everyone needed some fun from time to time.

The initial insertion team had been seven soldiers and a lieutenant overseeing them; the poor soul holding the breaching charge was already down and out, having been directly in front of Ragna when he decided to remodel the room's architecture.

Three break in a disciplined rush for the far end of the hallway and the east stairwell, dropping grenades behind them to cover their retreat. Ragna promptly swings the door again and bashes through the floor, sending the explosives down to the next level and spinning down the hallway there, as well as reducing the already damaged door he wields as a weapon to splinters. The Reaper turns and hurls the scrapwood at the other end of the hallway, where the other half of the team has taken cover in the snack lounge, setting up a heavy rifle on a table. The wooden projectile smacks the barrel off angle, so that when it roars the heavy 7.56 mm rounds tear through the adjacent room instead of their opponent's body, throwing up a dust screen of ruptured drywall. Meanwhile, the lieutenant ducks into the room opposite his quarry's and slams the door shut, locking it.

Ragna flings up a hand and a hydra head roars from the ground underneath Bloodscythe in the far corner of the room, catching the blade in its teeth and hurling it to the Reaper. He catches the heavy weapon one-handed and spins it up in front just in time to catch the rifle's fire as the operator readjusts his aim. Bullets ping off the enormous sword as Ragna crouches, seithr gathering in arcing pools underneath him.

"INFERNO DIVIDER!" he roars, and splits the floor open in a vicious slice all the way to the snack lounge - just as the grenades in the hall beneath detonate in an ear-popping explosion.

The entire west wing of that floor collapses, sending the machine gun operator and his compatriots down in a storm of debris.

Then a bright burst of light punches through the wall of the room the lieutenant hides in, spearing Ragna through the shoulder and leaving a clean-burnt hole about the size of a quarter straight through. He hisses in pain.

"Caelica will take care of that when we`re done here." Bullet reassures him, standing back and keeping the soldiers off his six while he was fighting. As much as she loved being in the offensive, standing anywhere near Ragna`s attack range was lethal to her, so she kept from it as long as she could.  
A window shattered next to her, and a ziprope was flung in- the soaring noise of a shebalve above suggested a military team about to go in.  
"You had your fun. Those are mine." Charging her armagus, she was engulfed in flame a second later- another second later, her right fist connected with the chin of a special infantry soldier on the zipline. He wasn`t just knocked out, he was flung off of the rope about seven feet, falling to his demise three stories deeper.  
Then she took a hold of the line while the others got on it- tugging it inside, again and again, the soldiers on the rope were smacked against the outer wall of the hotel against their will- two fell off, the other three were sucessful to break a window next to her and climb inside.  
"You shouldn`t have done that." She purred, getting in a feral stance while they drew out magical-looking heavy carbines, which fired a sort of enchanted projectile in rapid sucession.  
Regardless of the gunfire, Bullet charged forward, her aura of fire making her seem like a flying fireball as she bounced off of the walls to avoid making it too easy for them.  
After a full 360 off of all four walls, her left foot connected firmly with the protective visor of a heavy infantrist- it left him unharmed, but it knocked him over, making it easy for Bullet to drop down and ram her elbow into his neck, killing him instantly.  
The two others, turning around rapidly to get her while she was busy. Bullet tossed the lifeless body of their colleage at the first guy, then kicked the second against the cheek, slamming him against the wall uncomfortably enough that his neck broke, despite the heavy armor.

Her flames extinquished and the carnage ceased for the monent- Bullet looked somewhat disappointed that the blood on her body wasn`t from the soldiers. She got hit a couple of times dodging the projectiles, which ended up leaving some nasty burns and flesh wounds.  
Hopped up on adrenaline and testosterone, she didn`t even feel the pain, but now that she noticed it, it was starting to hurt pretty badly.

Ragna idly summons a second Dead Spike into the wreckage covering the machine gun team, chewing the debris into bloody sawdust and eradicating their chances of a second round. "Go for it." he says, a little off-balance at the mercenary's eagerness. It's weird to have backup, but not really bad weird. Energizing, more like. He starts to bounce on the balls of his feet, then turns and shreds the wall of the lieutenant's room, just as the second lightbeam goes off. It clashes with the sword and deflects it up and through the ceiling, burning clear through until daylight spills into the hallway from the holed ceiling.

The lieutenant backpedals, leaping backwards through the room's window without hesitation, and Ragna is too far away to catch him with a Hell's Fang. The Reaper clicks his tongue and turns to the east stairwell as a head pokes out of it and points a rifle at him. Bullets zip down the hallway again, and Ragna responds with a second Inferno Divider - this one aimed higher, thrown harder, until he rips through the ceiling and lands on the floor above. He sprints down the hallway and leaps into the air, then comes screaming back down in a Belial Edge, punching back through the floor and obliterating the stairwell door, as well as most of the wall around it. He doesn't catch the man who had shot at him with that strike - he's descending the stairs already, on the move after missing his shot - but the tectonic tremor has thrown him off balance, and Ragna immediately turns and swings at him. Bloodscythe shears through the stairs, the railing, and the soldier with equal ease, blasting the top half of his body across the stairwell to smack into the wall. Blood paints the wall and the sword red.

One of his teammates leaps out the window again, using some kind of rappeling hook to make the landing safely, the same trick the lieutenant had used. The other stands still, stunned, staring at the bisected body of his teammate, who is screaming incoherently, grasping at the entrails that have spilled out of his ruined abdomen.

Ragna swats the obvious rookie like a fly, and then kicks out the exterior wall, searching for more opponents. The whine of a Shebalve autocannon gives him his answer, and he has to swing up Bloodscythe into a protective shield as the gunship begins to rain fire down upon him from the sky outside the hotel.

"Okay, now how the hell do we get rid of the Shebalve? Its gonna burn this place to the ground if we don´t do something."  
Bullet responded to him over the noise of its main gun. They were both fighters for close combat, not suited for something like ground to air battle.  
Caelica had a handgun, and a flare gun, but an RPG would be a bit too much to ask from the young witch to have lying around somewhere...  
She didn´t know the exact specs of that type of Shebalve, but if its armament was anything to go by it was safe to assume that those weapons bays on its belly were loaded. Possibly something explosive...  
Bullet looked over to her brother in arms, then at her wounds. ...better a risky suicide plan than none at all.

"...Okay, i got something. Try to best them without me for a while." She yelled at him, running over to the window... the shebalve was just turning around above them, going for a second approach and it was going to split the hotel wide open with this one... nothing Ragna or Caelica could do against that, if it wanted, it could turn this place into ashes.  
And so, Bullet decided to do what she had to- as the shebalve came over and a buzzing sound indicated it was hovering in place now to tear the whole floor down, she ran as fast as she humanly could to the window, stepped onto the frame of the broken window and leaped onto the flying machine, impacting on its cockpit window.  
Fractically trying to get a hold of the plane that was slipping out of her hand, Bullet eventually clung onto a handlebar that was designed to open the cockpit manually, if necessary... she didn`t need to, her Armagus crashed into the window and cracked the head of the pilot underneath, who she then tugged out and tossed while the plane still hovered in place, ready to fire.  
"Okay..." She could nurse the bruises she got from this stunt later, now she had to make sure this thing wasn`t going to cause them any more trouble.  
One had to train for seven years before they were allowed to fly a training Shebalve at the acadamy, and it wasn`t easy to figure out which of the controls did what... especially when Bullet still hung onto the flying aircraft with one arm that was slowly, but surely getting tired.  
The second shebalve in the air, ready to drop reinforcements, noticed her and was coming her way... barely in time, she set an auto piloted course for it and jumped off, falling onto a balcony underneath.  
The last thing she saw before blacking out was a bright flash, followed by an earthshaking explosion in the brightest of colors when the expensive, seithr powered aircraft collided and tore themselves to pieces.  
Then she gave in to the pain and let go.

Ragna whistles in appreciation as he hops off the side of the building onto a buttress, then to the ground. The lieutenant that had escaped him is setting up for another shot at Bulelt as she hangs from the Shebalve; he notices Ragna too late as the Reaper charges towards him, and Hell's Fang lashes out to crush his ribcage. The following swathe of dark energy turns him into gibbets, and Ragna turns back to his allies, bounding up the outer wall of the hotel using Bloodscythe as a piton.

"Bullet, that was fuckin' sweet." he calls, flipping up over the ledge of the balcony and extracting Bloodscythe from the wall with a groan of shredded concrete. "Did you - oh." Ragna frowns. "Well why the hell did you puss out, woman."

He shrugs and lifts the mercenary into a fireman's carry, and hefts her down the stairwell again and back to their room, where he calls out, "Caelica, you still here? Time to get moving! I don't want to wait for another ambush."

"Coming, coming!" Caelica shouted, still a bit shaken by the massive explosion just outside the hotel.  
"What the hell was that, anyway?! Sounded like a bomb going off or something!" Soon enough, she came running along dressed in her shoes and a long, oversized T-shirt- in her hands was a laundry basket full of their clothes, as she made sure not to leave them behind.  
Her face paled significantly when she noticed the hole in Ragna`s shoulder and the various burns and wounds on Bullet, along with the broken ribs she probably had from the fall.  
"I`ll... i`ll get right to it..." She stuttered, ripped out of her joyous cycle by the death surrounding her and her bleeding friends in front of her.  
Caelica was a pacifist by nature, she only fought to defend herself and if possible, she healed her opponents after they learned their lesson... but most of these people needed more healing power than she could ever offer- she didn`t have the ability to resurrect the dead.

Ragna grins a little as Cae begins fluttering, healing Ars already aglow on her fingertips. "Get Bullet first, she's down for the count, might as well heal her while she's still for it." he says. "I'll manage - wound's already closing anyways. The Grimoire's good for little stuff like this." It was true enough - the souls he'd harvested with Bloodscythe had already begun patching the hole in his shoulder, flesh stitching together grotesquely. "Sorry to ruin your morning, anyways."

He turns and grabs up the laundry basket on his other shoulder, and starts walking as he talks, letting Caelica work her magic on Bullet. "It was an ambush squad of NOL soldiers. Guess the clerk figured out who I was. And that using gold dust to buy a room wasn't exactly inconspicuous." Ragna chuckles awkwardly. "Aw well. Those two Shebalves were probably their entire air complement, so we've got a good five minutes before anyone else shows up. Let's book it to the railway."

"Alright..." Caelica said quietly, her hand resting on Bullet to let her magic flow into her. She starts moving along with Ragna- neither of them wants to stay much longer anymore, despite the comfy bed and the well stacked wine cooler- getting herself used to the idea of riding in that stupid rail car a second time.  
Bullet was gravely injuried, without treatment she might`ve died during the next hour. However, Caelica couldn`t use both of her hands on Bullet without slowing Ragna down, so the process of healing her took a while.  
This whole time, she said nothing, quietly glooming about the carnage that took place after such a peaceful and enjoyable evening...  
Quietly, she began to talk again.  
"Just who are they... those NOL people..?"

Ragna shrugs. "The NOL - stands for Novis Orbus Librarium - regulates and controls all use of magic these days, and most everything else too. They're real assholes about it. I've knocked off a couple branches because their management is full of people like Relius Clover and Terumi, and no one benefits with crazies like those in charge." He grimaces. "They've got some kind of _huge_ bounty on my head. Dunno how much it's at, but it's enough to bankrupt the government if I ever do get caught."

He carries Bullet up a set of stairs in the outdoors station, ignoring the stares of the citizens as they make way for the bloody fighter. "We're hijacking a regular carriage this time, by the by." Ragna calls back to Caelica, as he boots the turnstile halfway across the station floor and steps over the wreckage. "Fuck that counterweight. Not again. Not with Bullet out of commission like this, the ride wouldn't help her at all."

The Reaper makes it to a stationary traincar, and its doors slide open - only for him to pause and frown thoughtfully.

"Oh!" A squirrel-tailed beastkin says, jerking up from where she'd been crouched over her cellphone. She blinks at Ragna then grins happily. "Hey, Ragsy! Whatcha doing out here? Disturbing the public peace again?"


	6. Chapter 6

Caelica`s mouth was wide agape, and she was in the shock of her life for once.  
"Novus Orbis Librarium... The Novus Librarium... The organization my sister founded to develop measures against the Black Beast, to save humanity... is led by Terumi Yuuki and Relius Clover...?!"  
She felt like she was about to faint, hearing that the work of her sister was completely and utterly turned for the worst by the two worst men in existance.  
As such, she tagged along with Ragna, not leaving Bullet´s side as she was still in need of medical attention... though her train of thought was distrupted by the beastkin in the traincar.  
"H-huh?" Caelica was derailed from her own train in her head. She had seen beastkin before, Jubei and a few mutations due to the Seithr influence, but none looked this.. cute.

Ragna eyes the beastkin for a moment, then ignores her to turn to Caelica and make introductions. "Caelica, this is Makoto Nanaya. She's a member of Sector Seven, a group opposing the NOL. She's pretty cool."

Makoto beams at the introduction as if it had been gushing praise. "Aww, that's sweet of you, Ragsy. Pleased to meet you miss Caelica!" she bounds forward to shake Bullet's hand, who obviously does not respond. Then the Beastkin turns to the other women, mischief twinkling in her eyes. "And who're you? Mr. Reaper blow up your house and now you have to follow him around doing his laundry to have a place to live?"

She drops her voice and leans in. "He only has _one change of clothing_. I pity you."

Makoto resumes normal conversational volume. "You look great in those skanky pants, Ragna."

Ragna scowls. "Don't get started. Seriously. These two are bad enough already."

Slowly. a smile crept back to Caelica`s face as she waved Makoto a greeting, then used both hands to finish up on Bullet. The merc was back to looking fine, although the bloodstains in the bathrobe were probably never going to come out again.  
"I don`t have other clothes than my one outfit either... i kind of just arrived two days ago."  
She let go of her friend to take a seat and smirk lightly.  
"And you should see the back. Those pants are tight."

Ragna turns and eyeballs Caelica. "Is that why you've been trailing behind -"

"Your smoking hot tush?" Makoto interjects, smiling devilishly, and Ragna shugs helplessly before he turns away and carries Bullet and the laundry basket to an empty seat, setting them both down beside him and leaning his head back against the leather. "I ain't gonna fight the both of you." he mutters. "I'm just going to sit right here and take a nap before my head implodes."

Makoto prances two steps forward and deposits herself neatly on Ragna's lap, who chokes on his own spit. "So how did you all meet up?" she asks Caelica curiously, ignoring the man behind her coughing. "This looks like a pretty impropetu group, no offense. " The beastkin eyes Caelica with a considerate eye. "You look like you've been hassled pretty hard the last few days, too. The boy toy up to his usual shenanigans?"

Out of nowhere, Caelica was bombarded with questions by the beastkin, blinking as she took a seat herself.  
Slapping Ragna on the back to get him out of his coughing fit, she started to think of an answer before the next question came as soon as she thought of one.  
"Woah, keep them one at a time!" She pled, then settled down and took a deep breath.  
"So basically, my niece Kokonoe brought me to this time thats about a hundred years after my own for something she was going to tell me before -bam- some time space distortion or whatever sends me five, sixhundred miles into a random direction, same as Ragna and Bullet here. So since we all had the same goals, get out of there and figure out whats going on, we decided to stick together."  
At the comment of her clothes she blushed a bit and tugged down her shirt, remembering that Ragna didn`t give her enough time to put on more than just that oversized shirt and her shoes.  
"Don`t remind me of that. We had to get out of that hotel pretty fast... and actually, the last days haven´t been that bad. Just this morning, when like, half an army of angry soldiers... i think Ragna called them the NOL, wanted us dead, with air support and everything. Thats why Bullet here is still knocked out, she kind of... hit her head."

As if on cue, a groan came from the mercenary, and a second later, Makoto`s cellphone rang as Kokonoe demanded an explaination why the squrriel hadn`t reported in over seventeen hours.

Makoto nods, face momentarily growing serious. "I have a spare outfit or two. Besides, you'd probably look good in yellow." she assures Caelica. "Unless you've got your clothes in that basket and you managed to wash them before heading on the run. Anyways, welcome to the new century! Hopefully it's better than the last, what with the Black Beast and all."

The beastkin winces as her cell goes off, and raises a finger. "Hold on, I got to take this." She scurries off to the other end of the monorail car, and Ragna releases a sigh of relief as his lap is vacated.

"Problems I'd never thought I'd have." he says wryly, searching through the laundry basket and extracting Caelica's skirts, which he offers to her with a crooked grin. "Or that you'd thought to have, for that matter." The Reaper adjusts Bullet so that she leans a little more comfortably against his shoulder.

"Thats a good.. meat pillow..." Bullet muttered, her arm raising up to rub her temple as it was throbbing from the concussive impact on the balcony.

Caelica just snickered and put on her skirt, not that it changed much, but it shielded off curious eyes a bit better.  
"After that experience this morning, i`m really not sure what to think of this century yet..."

Kokonoe growled while nibbling on a lollipop, the claws of her left hand scratching her desk to relieve stress.  
"Makoto. Its been seventeen hours and i`ve yet to hear a single report from you. Have you found Azreal yet? And if so, found out what happened? I really got bigger fish to fry."  
A mumbling response from the red devil was met with an agressive sigh from the catgirl.  
"I heard that, Tager. Shut up and get in line. First this, then i`ll fix your limbs, then i`ll take care of Neon`s software problem... or whatever the hell it is that makes him so annoying, and then i`ll find out where the hell Caelica went."

Ragna's head turns, curiously. "Hey, is that the fucking cat?"

Makoto makes frantic 'shut up' motions with her hands and laughs nervously. "I ran into Ragna, Caelica, and some other girl on the monorail towards Azrael's containment unit. They look pretty banged up; I'm thinking it's more important to bring them back in then to go hunting that guy by myself." She grimaces. "I'm, uh, not certain I could take him."

Ragna nods, quite serious. "Oh yeah, there's no way you could. That fucker's tough. He rumbled with me and Bullet at the same time."

Makoto squints at him. "Will you stop interrupting my phone call, please?"

Ragna shrugs and turns to Bullet, pulling up one eyelid to check dilation. "You girls seem to like bashing your heads into things." he chastises mildly, letting it close again. "It's a bad habit. Try to stop that. But asides from that, _kick-ass_ maneuver you pulled there. I'm buying the next time we go somewhere nice. Again, I suppose."

Bullet chuckled slightly as she eased herself into a more comfy position.  
"Trying to be John McClane while dressed in a bathrobe isn`t very cool though... plus, minus points for -not- landing in a convinent pool of water after jumping off the Shebalve."  
Her eyes perked up at him and she grinned lightly.  
"So what -are- you buying, anyway...? Just the drinks or the entertainment t-"

"WAIT, WAIT, WAIT."  
Kokonoe interrupted, hearing Ragna talk into their conversation. Her claws were digging into the table now, and Tager winced a bit as he knew what was coming.  
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE FOUGHT YOU AND BULLET."  
She spat out her lollipop and tried her best to control herself.  
"YOU GUYS ARE THE CAUSE OF THIS DESASTER, AREN'T YOU?!"

Caelica ducked her head, slowly covering her ears as the cat woman got louder and more agressive by the minute.  
"I don´t think i wanna go back to her anytime soon..."

Ragna ropes his other arm around Caelica's shoulders and hugs her in a silent gesture of reassurance. "I'll buy the drinks. I'm pretty sure I manage to provide the entertainment by myself, but if you don't like clown shows, I can try looking into something else. Take your time and think about it before you cash in, eh?"

He glances over at Makoto and smiles, vaguely aware of what he looks like at the moment, with a girl under each arm, a ragged-ass shirt on, and droopy pants. "Yeah, after I got dumped in the middle of nowhere and seithrfog, I broke into this crappy-ass old S7 base to see if there was anything to loot. Instead there was a crazy person so we beat him up and hijacked a rail counterweight so we could go chill at a hotel."

Makoto stares at him, then places the radio flat on a cab seat and backs away from it. "Well, if that's the fight you want to pick, Mr. Reaper." she mutters.

Kokonoe`s claws had found way through the sheet metal of the desk and were now digging into the materials underneath. She reminded herself to stay cool and calm down, otherwise this idiot would just nag her until she would faint of a heart attack.  
"Okay. Cool. Hope Azreal enjoyed that, but- You do realize you owe me for this, right? I mean, you don´t see ME breaking into your sorry excuse for a house and try to rob you, do you?!"  
Her fangs bared and her fist balled, she came to a resolution.  
"I hope you remember that i rig all of my toys with remote explosives in case they go rouge on me. So watch your arm in the meantime."  
That was a blatant lie, but it might get his attention.  
"But if you do want to apologize- there`s something i need to have, something in -the neighbourhood- so to speak, and something i was gonna ask Caelica to do anyways. I might forgive you if you find it and bring it to me."

Caelica was now hiding under Ragna`s coat she got out of the laundry basket and was afraid to look.  
"My sister has taught her well... she used to be a lot meaner herself, but this Kokonoe... the bitch is strong with this one."

Bullet snickered, trying to hold back to keep listening in and bumped her fist into Caelica`s side to nudge her and signal her to stop before it would spiral out of control.

Ragna's smile goes flat. "My house got burnt down. Also, you're the fucking one that apparently dumped Caelica out in the middle of the badlands with the only thing nearby being some insane dipshit's prison. She arrived with her head in a rock. Literally _in_ a rock. You're goddamn lucky she didn't die right there. _You_ owe _her_ for that bullshit, cat."

He shakes his head and takes a breath, calming himself down. "Pissing contests aside, if this package is gonna help, I'll grab it." The Reaper says quietly. "But just because you think Caelica is alone here in the future doesn't mean you can use her - because she isn't, understand? You try to treat her like Lambda and I will personally skin you."

Ragna folds one leg over the other and stares balefully at the radio. Fuck with his mother, would she? Hell no. "Where is this package, anyways."

"Listen, asshole, i`ve got fucking squat to do with that time-space distortion. I`m STILL trying to find out where it came from. My guess would be Ookoto."  
Kokonoe growled in frustration. If she wouldn`t like this guy that much, she would tear him a new one now.  
"Besides, you`re talking to a member of -my- family. I think if i would try to use her as a tool or a weapon, i would be a disgrace to said family."  
A groan later, she finally got to her senses.  
"Right. The package, then. There´s a couple of ruins southwest- about a hundred miles from your current position. Should be a quick detour with the train, nothing more. Thing is, somewhere in the very core of those ruins, there`s a fortified bunker entrance- probably blocked off by debris, but its there- leading to a pre-war science installation built by Sector Seven and operated by the Sin Architects."  
She took a deep breath, knowing whats coming next.  
"Somewhere in that ruined laboratory, there`s a notebook lying around. A personal log of one of the head scientists, Professor Ayatsuki. Aside from Miss Mercury herself, the best chance to take Terumi`s plans apart is to find that book and study it... plus i`m hoping to learn a thing or two from that guy, but thats beside the point."  
She exhaled, like she was having a smoke, but instead the lolli went back between her fingers.  
"You love disrupting Terumi`s plans, don`t you? Well, here`s your chance, sport."

Caelica`s eyes widened, and she looked up from underneath the jacket.  
"Did... did she say Ayatsuki...? ...I`ve been looking for that log, or anything else from that man for years before Ragna and the six heroes formed an alliance... are you absolutly certain its there?"

Kokonoe nodded on her end of the line, then gave a positive "Yup." as a response.

Ragna shakes his head and exhales, hard. "Fair enough then. Sorry 'bout accusing you." About sending Caelica here. He fucking knows Koko Puffs doesn't have a conscience anymore, what with how she treats Tager and Lambda. But saying that wouldn't do anything positive, so he chokes down the ire and moves on. "Sounds like a two-for-one." he agrees. "You and Cae both want that thing. Fair enough - I'll make a stop for supplies first at a depot, and then head out to there. I ain't really got much choice in that, I haven't got anything left for everyone to eat, we've got basically no clothes, and we definitely need a tent now. Soon as that's done I'll hit up the science place."

He glances over at Bullet, then Caelica. "You two want to come along or go your own way?" he says directly. "No hard feelings if you don't want to go - it's been a rough ride - but, honestly, I'd miss th' two of ya. Not to mention ye're damn good at what you do."

Makoto pipes up, "Want me to tag along, Kokonoe? Make sure everything goes smoothly?"

Bullet, groaning in her migraine, simply gives him a thumbs up and then rolls over to snore into his belly.  
"Azreal is taken care of... my mission is over anyways." She muttered. "And you`re hotter than him."

Caelica nods as well, content about the situation.  
"If there`s anything at all left of my father, its that book. Its probably worth even more to me than to Kokonoe, and it contains-"

Kokonoe cut her off right there, approving of Makoto`s plan.  
"Excellent idea, Makoto. Azreal is only second priority in that case, i`ll just send Tager or Neon or who the hell ever to pick him up. Maybe Noel."  
She snickered deviously.  
"Nah, don`t worry. I doubt we would hear from her again after that."  
It was scary how quickly her mood was lightened just by Ragna accepting this mission. She must be wanting that book really, really badly if she desired to humor him so much.  
"Oh, and by the way- if you need resources, use Makoto`s credit card. I´ll send some extra cash to it for the duration of the mission."  
Really, really, really badly.

"Good to know I look better than a crazyfuck prisoner trapped in a military base." Ragna says sardonically, but the arm around Bullet's shoulder starts to stroke through the mercenary's hair as she dozes off tenderly. "Right, we'll do it, Kokonoe. And thanks for the the help, I guess. Any defenses or whatnot I should be wary of?"

Makoto eyes bug out at the credit card comment, and she mutes a squeal as she dances in her seat happily. "Shopping spree~"

Ragna gives her a dubious look.

"Oh shut up." Makoto replies with a wave of her hand, "Like you know their sizes and what to buy for them." Her face grows impish. "Unless you . . . do already know, for some reason."

"No." Ragna replies, voice dry. "Caelica, when y'all go shopping, make sure we have actual things to eat and a tent, as opposed to just clothes."

Caelica whimpers.  
"I wish i could agree to what you`re implying, but... for all the time two perfectly fine, single ladies have been with him, i fear he might be into men~"  
Her tongue started to show, and Kokonoe couldn`t help but burst into a fit of giggles as well, aware of the problem he`s had with Jin in the past.  
As she finally found enough breath to answer, she coughed firmly.

"Well, no defenses whatsoever. There might be some debris blocking the path, the whole thing might be in danger of collapsing and, oh, i forgot to mention, the seithr levels are seventy times higher than on the normal ground level... but Caelica can take care of that."

Wiping a tear away, the witch nodded in agreement. "Yes... yes... i`ve kind of been there once, but we were attacked by a leftover piece of the beast that injuried both Ragna and Jubei badly, so we had to pull out... I`ve never been there again, i`m afraid."

Finally, Bullet managed to bring up a few words of wisdom while mumbling into Ragna´s chest.  
"When we go shopping, make sure to look around for a rocket propelled grenade launcher. I could`ve used one earlier today."

Caelica made a face.  
"How the hell am i supposed to find one in this wierd world with their semi-magical weapons?"

The mercenary sighed.  
"Ask the kids. The toys they have these days are dangerous enough."

Ragna blinks, and then makes a face. "Well just because I don't jump right into it doesn't mean I'm gay." he mumbles. "Besides, when the hell am I supposed to be doing anything about it? In between dodging bullets, carrying around injured women, and ransacking old military bases? Right, that's the proper fuckin' way to do things." He sighs and offers a wry half-grin at Caelica. "Get two tents and I'll set your fears at ease, eh?"

Makoto giggles and waggles her eyebrows at Caelica devilishly. "Ooh, an open invitation, miss Mercury ~ you'll have to break out the special panties."

Ragna coughs, and changes the subject. "I don't like the sound of that Beast fragment. Five to one odds it's still there hiding." he notes. "Whatever, still need that book. Bullet, I am definitely procuring some explosives this time around, but attaching rockets to them may be counterproductive. We can both pitch shit through concrete anyways."

The monorail creaks to a stop and he peers outside at the familiar sight of a towering steel outpost, with the triple-walled rings of a trading centre just below. These constructions stood between the Hierarchial Cities, rerouting cargo to its respective destinations and carrying up precious minerals from the badlands where it could be mined semi-safely. "You ladies ready to go?"

Caelica rolled her eyes, but smirked nonetheless.  
"First i`ll have to -buy- the special panties... But i`ll get back to you on that."

As the train stopped, Bullet finally managed to get back up on her own, sighing once and reminding herself to get painkillers for later.  
"Right. I`m ready. For anything." She looked back at Caelica, who then jumped to her feet and joined her.  
Then she looked back at the man of the group, nodding lightly.  
"We`re all ready to go... but i`ll pass on the clothes shopping, i think."  
Since the concussion didn´t give her the time Caelica had to dress semi-decently, she was in no way able to run around in public like this.  
...Caelica, on the other hand, had her long shirt still on, along with her skirt and Ragna`s jacket, which she put on after she no longer needed to hide from the angry cat girl. It fit her more like a coat, her hands didn`t come out of the sleeves anymore.

Kokonoe, in the meantime, had gotten Tager locked into a hydraulic operating table to repair the damage he had recieved on his last mission.  
"Okay, Makoto, Ragna, i´ve got shit to do. Tell me if you have any news. Sector Seven out." She turned off the radio on her dashboard and picked up the screwdriver for ultra-large, electromagnetic screws. "Alright, time to fix you up, big guy... again."

Ragna nods, squinting. "I'll handle the groceries. Bullet, you're the best with demolitions - I never use the damn things - so you go pick some of those up. Here . . ." He tosses the bottle of gold dust to the mercenary, still half full of precious dust. "Use that. Should be plenty for anything you need. Caelica, Makoto, you two go handle the clothes end, I don't know a damn thing about getting those. When you're done come pick me up because I won't have anything to pay the grocer with. Sound fair?"

Makoto giggles. "Sure you don't want to come along and judge our outfits, Mister Reaper?" she turns slightly and puts her finger to her lips, pouting. Her tail lifts the tiniest bit.

Ragna swallows and turns, hurrying towards the grocer's. Makoto laughs and turns to Caelica, winking. "I can see why you do that so much."


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N: **Hello everyone. This is chapter 7 of 10. Just to inform you. Also, Just One Night chap 2 is about 70% complete._

* * *

About two hours later, the three girls had reunited and headed for Ragna, whom they had left with the groceries... the boring part of the job, but he would be the perfect man to find the perfect ingredients for the perfect meal. Or something among those lines.  
"Hey." Bullet greeted him, carrying a sportsbag and a backpack while dressed in a leather jacket, a tank top and Jeans wide enough to not restrict her movement. "I suppose you`ve got all we need now, huh?"

Caelica was dressed in a typical summer outfit, a short sleeved blouse in a sunny yellow and a dark blue skirt, along with trecking boots since they would have to walk around in uneven terrain for a while. She made that mistake of going there in designer shoes once, but she won`t do that again.  
"Makoto got to dress me up, and you weren`t there to watch, Ragna." She pouted, but still smiling a bit. "And Bullet found her clothes after five minutes, so that was no fun either."

Makoto is dressed in a loose, airy black blouse an jean skirt with some kind of shorts beneath it, visible whenever she turns too fast. It has to be deliberate. Beneath that are comfortable hiking boots. She grins and does a little pirouette for Ragna as he looks up from the book he had been reading on a bench beside the grocer's. "Like the lineup, Mister Reaper?"

Ragna folds the book away into a pocket in his jacket, cups his chin in one hand, and takes them all in with a considering glance. "I'm doomed, aren't I?" he asks rhetorically. "If y'all look like this dressing practical, I have no hope of surviving a dress night."

Makoto's smile turns warm. "Not bad, charmer."

Ragna shakes his head. "Yeah, got everything, Bullet." he says with a stretch, indicating a backpack beside him. "Even managed to pay it off with some improv work - this one dumbass was forgetting how to properly section fugu. Coulda gotten someone killed, that ass." He scowls. "Still, saved some money doing it."

He glances over at Caelica. "Well, there's always the next time we go swimming." he says, wry, as he shoulders the pack and heads towards the elevator down from the tower. "Until then, let's hop back on the monorail and get on to the ruins. I don't want to be putting this off."

Caelica blinked, but then grinned mishievously at the thought of picking out a bikini to turn Ragna`s head with.  
Why didn´t she think of that? She must be lagging behind between the two masters of flirting, Bullet and Makoto.  
"Alright, but once we get there, you guys need to stick around near me. The seithr concentration there is enough to kill you in minutes, and pretty much everything is highly radioactive."

Bullet sighed at the prospect of going to such a place, but nodded. "Charming thought. Always wanted to die and return as an irradiated zombie. Lets get to it then."  
As she turned and began to walk out, Bullet crossed Ragna`s path again.  
"Be glad you drew the short end of the stick with this." She whispered to him, somewhat annoyed. "They got completely crazy about shopping for clothes... we literally spent one and a half hours in that damned place looking for a skirt to match her blouse."

On the way out, Caelica and Bullet each picked up a tent while leaving the backpack with camping supplies for Makoto or Ragna to carry- it contained sleeping bags, a GPS device to help them find their way, military grade "fuel cubes"- solid, slow burning cubes to cook something if they didn`t find any dry firewood, and some small necessties such as foldable forks, knives and spoons, toothbrushes, a couple of lighters and a can of bugspray.

The entire rest of what Bullet was carrying, the fairly large sports bag and her backpack was filled to the brim with ordenance and explosives. She rather came prepared this time, and besides, it was free.

Ragna snaps off a salute. "Sure, sticking close bosslady. Presume this means bathroom breaks are gonna be pretty awkward, aren't they." He rolls his eyes and shoves his hands into his pockets. "Welp, it's not like we've been all that concerned with personal space or what's acceptable on the first date."

He glances over at Bullet and cocks an eyebrow. "You know that I said "come get me after you're done" _specifically_ because of that, right? I didn't draw the short end of the stick, I planned it that way. You just didn't catch on quick enough." He smiles, satisfied. "I'm guessing you're not really part of the shopping clique, then?"

The elevator chimes and Ragna leads them on, leaning against a wall with a sigh, his unusual cadre drawing stares that he returns with interest. "I know I'm going to regret asking this, but Makoto, what's the damn point of the skirt if it's purposely made too short to cover anything and you have to wear shorts beneath anyways?"

Makoto beams, slinging arms around Caelica's shoulders. "Because I felt bad that Caelica was going to be the only one wearing a skirt, so I decided to pick one up so she wouldn't be alone in having leg goosebumps." She explains cheerfully. "Also, it makes you stare."

Bullet grunted in annoyance and slapped her forehead.  
"I should`ve known. Sneaky bastard. And no, as you can tell i`m pretty much wearing the same outfit as before, just a bit more protective."  
Which meant the pant legs were longer and the sleeves actually covered her arms.  
Catching on to the Makoto topic, she noticed another problem that this outfit might have.  
"I find your tail more interesting to stare at. Besides, that uncovers your butt every two seconds anyway... i thought the companies that make clothes caught onto the beastkin trends these days."

By the sheer mentioning of the tail, Caelica found herself clinging to Makoto already.  
"It might be a bit disadventagous in tight spaces, but her tail is just incredible." She squealed, rubbing her face against it.

Makoto rolls her eyes. "That's the other reason for the outfit, yes." she mutters. "This place is so out of the way that it doesn't _have_ anything for beastfolk. I kinda had to do some personal work on the shorts to let my tail through, and, well, the skirt helps cover that up a bit." She smiles, a little sheepish. "But it's better than walking around with my ass hanging out, I guess."

She glances back at Caelica with a suppressed smile and the tail twitches, patting Caelica's face. "I don't understand how you monkey people get along without a tail, honestly." she admits. "It helps me keep balanced. And it's really warm. I never need a pillow when I go to sleep."

Ragna snickers at Bullet then turns to Makoto as well. "Do ya comb it or anything?" he asks, curious. "Or shampoo it? Or -"

"Ragna." Makoto says, very plainly. "I'm hygenic. Stop."

Ragna sulks.

Caelica wasn`t even listening, she was just delightfully rubbing herself against that tail.  
"It smells of roses... i think..." She swooned, deeply inhaling its scent. Bullet sighed again, then nudged her in the side.  
"Please, keep your fantasies to yourself for a while. We have a job to do... lead on, please."  
After about seven nudges, the young witch broke free of her desire to hug the tail and nodded quickly, moving swiftly on towards a barren wasteland covered in a strange, grey dust.  
"Try not to breath that stuff in." She advised, then moved towards a pile of rubble in the distance.

Dismissing the idea of tasting what it was like, Bullet caught some of the dust in her hand and tried to figure out what it was.  
Rough and grainy as it was, it reminded her of...  
"Concrete...?"

"Good nose, Caelica." Makoto replies with a smile. "But try not to spread that around, I don't want everyone running up to take a sniff." With a curious smile, the tail flickers once then curls at Ragna. "But you can if you want, Ragna ~"

Ragna waves one hand. "I can probably live without it, even if I'm the one that brought up the topic." He notes. "But thanks. Yeah, Bullet, some of that's concrete; one of the Beast's favorite tricks was an aerosol that dissolved concrete into a sort of mist. Wrecked havoc on cities, and anyone who breathed it in - well, it ain't good for your lungs, I'll say that much." He frowns and flicks a glob of the greyish stuff away. "Jubei told me about it when I was a kid. He wasn't much of one for bedtime stories, I'll say that much."

The ruins loom ahead. It's some kind of observatory, imposing in its desolation, ruined by the aerosol and torn open by time. The front, previously a great shimmering wall of glass, is now empty, and the glass lies in great gleaming minefields across the entire entrance, sharp and brittle. Ragna scowls. "Well we aren't getting in this way. Come on, let's check if there's a maintenance entrance."

Caelica nodded, yeah, getting lacerated by ancient glass shards wasn`t very pleasent. Then again, they have been there before, so they had found a different way in... she just needed to remember where.  
"Those ruins are actually vast and wide- some thousand square miles or something. It used to be a city called Tokio... populated by billions of people before they attempted to destroy the beast with a one-hundred megaton bomb." She added that last bit with a bit of gloom and decided to keep the rest of the details for herself.  
Walking around the main entrance, she looked around - those remains of concrete walls used to be skyscrapers, short, rusty poles emerging from the dust had to be traffic lights. In the distance, a large structure made of rusty, bent steel used to be the world famous radio tower.  
"I think we just made our own way back then, but there should be a hatch or some sort of sewer hole leading down to the lab... if its not covered by dust at the moment."

Ragna snorts. "An entire goddamn city. Well no wonder Kokonoe was so nice about it - this is going to be a hell of a job." he sighs and kicks a nearby streetpole. Porous and weakened by time, it snaps at the base and soars away, bouncing across the ground. "Well, if it's a city, there are maps of it, and those maps will be at places where people are trying to get around." He says practically. "Let's try to find a bus stop, or a big damn intersection, or someplace like that. Once we find a map we won't have to comb this place street by street."

Makoto shivers. "It's so empty." she mumbles, clutching her tail and absently stroking it. "I mean - there's nobody." She laughs nervously. "Um, I know it probably doesn't bother the rest of you, but this is really really weird for me."

Ragna nods absently as he strides over to one side of the road, staring up at a metal pole that had once supported a traffic light. "You beastkin live commually, right?"

Caelica snorted, a slice of dark humor in her mouth. "Well sure. The city hall might not have surivived the carnage, but i`m sure a bus stop will." Looking around, aside from a few skeletons of skyscrapers and bare cinderblocks, the city was as flat as a board. No evidence of something that might`ve been a bus station in the past.

"Hold on, i got this." Bullet raised her hand, then pulled out her smartphone to get a map of the city from the internet. "The web has been around for longer than this city, presumeably. Or if not, then we`ll find some hints at least." Not even two minutes later, Google Earth`s "time machine" function found what they were looking for. "Ah, here we go. ...okay, seeing that radio tower over there? Thats pretty much our only means of orientation, so... i`m assuming we`re..."  
The GPS device they bought told her where they were ahead of her pathfinding skills, making her want to slap her forehead. Instead, she entered the coordinates into Google Earth and found their exact location on the map.

Caelica looked over her shoulder, nodding slowly.  
"Okay... that tells us where we are, but that doesn`t say where our destination is."

Ragna shrugs. "Less to fall atop a bus station." He reasons practically. "Larger buildings are piles of rubble by now, but a little thing like a station isn't something that would have drawn much of the Beast's attention, eh?" A beat of silence, then he slumps. "Yeah, probably not going to work anyways."

Makoto glances over Bullet's shoulder at the map, tail twitching thoughtfully. "Ask it to check for landmarks." she says. "It should have a map of the major buildings and attractions nearby. I mean, that book Koko wants has to be in one of them, not just some random hole in the ground somewhere, right?"

Ragna, meanwhile, has gone still, glancing about with a frown.

Caelica looked over to Ragna, a bit worried.  
"I... i think we hurt the resident survivalist`s feelings."

Bullet did not care for the least, instead, she glanced over the landmarks and blinked in suprise.  
"Uh... according to this map there`s a bajillion landmarks all over. Take your pick. ...though it has an amazing array of McDonalds stores plastered all over. Its like the capital of fast food."

Ragna's frown deepens. "No, not that."

He turns around, glancing about, a very bad feeling trickling down his spine. "I just got . . . a really really bad feeling right now. We need to get out of the open. Bullet, does that thing mark subway entrances? There should be one nearby. There might be something down there to point us in the right direction. We just really need to get out of the open right now."

Makoto looks at him curiously. "Spider sense going off, Mister Reaper?"

Ragna shrugs, shoulders tense. "Been pretty damn accurate for me so far."

Bullet nodded, pointing towards what used to be an intersection with a large subway sign right above it.  
"Though i don`t feel very comfy about going down there, given the way the city is completely and utterly dead in more ways than one."  
The stairway downwards was covered in dust, but thankfully it wasn`t completely caved in yet.  
Taking Ragna`s sword without asking him, Bullet quickly abused its wide blade as a shovel to dig a path down to the nearly intact underground train station.

Dim lights illuminated the subway canals, meaning that the rails were still under power, but the lights themselves were slowly giving in to their mortality.  
Everything else was exactly how the people left it, a hundred years ago... a newspaper was left unattended on a bench, barely readable due to age.  
An old train was still docked at the station, the skeletal pilot not willing to drive it anywhere- though given that there`s actually something left of him, it meant that the tram itself had protected him from the devastation above.  
Surrounding them was a soda machine coupled with one for supplying horrible coffee and even worse instant soup, a map of the underground system, a machine for buying tickets and... a door to the restrooms.

Caelica cringed at the last.  
"Oh man. If train station toilets are horrible while the city is populated, i so don`t want to see those. There`s probably mushrooms and moss growing everywhere."

"Nah, there'd only be fungi if the water still worked." Ragna answers he takes back his sword, checking for dings or dents in the metal. Finding none, he slings it on his back again. "Really doubt it does, the pumping stations would have lost pressure when the dam fell."

Makoto brightens and bounces over to the map. "Hey Mister Reaper, I found your map." she calls. "Um, right now we're at - Earl Crossing. Okay. And there's a stop for the Institute of Energy Research a little ways down the track at Baobon End. That's pretty vague, but it might be what we're looking for. It sounds all . . . sciency." Ragna guffaws as Makoto flushes. "Hey, shut up, at least I'm contributing."

"True enough." Ragna replies, putting a lid on his mirth. "Uh, Bullet, get your GPS thing to look where this Baboon place is. If your map thingy thinks its a department store it's probably not the right place."

Said and done, the GPS coordinates of the Institute of Energy Research were entered and Google Earth found it on the map as well, a large building complex without discription, near the Fukushima II thorium fusion reactor, built twenty years after the fatal accident of the first fission reactor. Obviously, it was still working, despite the years that went by, otherwise the track they were looking at would be pitch black.  
With a mighty punch, Bullet opened the soda machine by force and gathered a whole bunch of cola bottles, Sprite, Fanta and Mezzo Mix included.  
As Caelica gave her a worrying look, she waved her off.  
"Relax. The only thing thats not artifical about these is the water, and that doesn`t go bad in a sealed plastic bottle." Bullet purred, then opened one of the cola bottles- which gave off a fizzy sound. "See? Still carbonated."

Caelica sighed and faced the other way, where the traincar lurked.  
"...Ragna..? If those lights are on and the track is under power, it could be really dangerous to walk there... how about using this subway train instead?"  
The rustbucket she referred to didn`t look all that welcoming, especially due to the driver, but each wheel was powered by a seperate motor, so it was unlikely they all locked up by the rust. If they were lucky, it would last long enough for them to reach their destination.

Ragna raises eyebrows at the train car. "True enough." he muses. "I was just going to break the tracks and the circuit so we could walk down, but this probably works better. It'll make a hell of a racket though . . . eh, who cares. Good idea, Caelica."

Makoto hurries over to Bullet with a newspaper bin she had appropriated from a dispenser, and herds the various bottles and cans into them. "If there's any orange soda I call it." she says, quite seriously. "That's the best flavor in the universe. You can't have it."

Ragna boards the train and tosses the driver out one of the lead car's missing windows, then starts up the engine. It puffs to life with a weary moan of steel, and he tosses a thumbs up to the rest. "All aboard, this train is leaving the station!" His spine crawls again and he tries to shove the feeling away. They'll be moving fast enough to leave his hunch behind in about ten seconds.


	8. Chapter 8

Jumping aboard, Caelica sat down near Ragna to watch the train come to life one more time, like a wrecked ship acending from the bottom of the ocean.  
It did make a lot of noise, but they were pretty much the only people around in this city... so who cared, right.  
"So how does it feel to be a railway man...?" She asked him with a smile, crossing her legs while she watched the train move into the darkness.

Bullet had hopped aboard as well, sitting down in the first row behind the drivers seat and took out a Fanta from the bag of sodas, tossing it over to Makoto.  
"I`d be suprised if that still tastes like it should, but who knows. Its cold, so it must be good."  
Or so she thought, stuffing the rest of the bottles into her backpack and her sports bag, then taking a sip from her cola.  
She was fully prepared to be disappointed, but aside from a bit of flatness, it was okay, oddly enough.  
"Huh. I guess thats a 'good enough' for the cola taste."

Ragna plops himself down besides Caelica, rubbing his forehead. "Like I've given up a life of action and adventure to become a button-pusher on a traincar." he answers, scrubbing a hand through his hair. "I don't ever want a nine-to-five job. I really think I'm not molded for them." He sighs. "Fuck, I dunno what I'm gonna do after all this Librarium shit is over. Presuming I survive. Meh."

He shrugs and leans back against the cushioned seat. "One thing at a time, right?"

~*~

The door to the second traincar opens, abruptly. A tall, gangly man in an ill-fit black suit, with tangled and matching hair, stares dispassionately out at Bullet and Makoto, ahead of him. "That was annoyingly close." he admits, and finishes hauling the door to the side. A fucking _enormous_ hound, the size of a small elephant, snarls behind him, all sinew and bone and gristled skin; the back end of the traincar they occupy is just missing, torn off and left behind. Staccato clicks echo from the roof and walls of the car as the hound pushes past him, peeling back the divider door between the cars. "Thanks for moving away from the civvies, though."

As Ragna utters those words, Caelica falls silent and looks away, staring ahead into the vast empty darkness, with the dim lights in the tunnel racing by like stars in a spaceship. After a few moments of silence, her tears finally drop down to the dashboard with a light sound, the drops falling on a thin metal plate, where the pearl off and down to the floor.

The eyes of the mercenary widen, and in a second, she`s on her feet and pulls up her sleeve to reveal her Armagus in full.  
Its bursting with energy, being submitted to extreme seithr levels this whole time.  
"Where the hell did you come from?! And on top of that, how the hell did you even live long enough to get here?!"

Ragna blinks and glances over, then blanches as Caelica begins crying silently. He turns out of his seat and kneels in front of her, hands fidgeting awkwardly. "Oh, damn it, Caelica, what'd I say wrong?" he asks, finally settling on placing his hands over hers. "I know I'm a bit of a dipshit, so help me out here. I don't want you hurting like this if I can help it."

In the back car, Makoto bristles, the gauntlets of her weapon snapping out into place. "I hate dogs." She bites out, stretching for a moment before throwing a couple of razor-sharp jabs. "Bring it on, bitch."

The besuited man blinks. "Been trying to catch up. Customs is a bitch. And I have pets that take care of that for me. For instance." He gestures and the elephant hound lunges forward, its maw opening to encompass the entirety of the compartment, teeth scraping the floor and walls.

"No... its.. its nothing..." Caelica brings out, shutting her eyes forcibly to try and stop the tears from coming.  
"You didn´t do anything wrong, you can`t know it... you... he... he said the same thing to me back then... three days before he was devoured by the beast to save Jubei´s life." Her hand was clentching around his as she desperately tried to get out of her memories. "I... i had the map again, and like always we got lost in the woods... it was getting dark so we quickly set up a camp to try and find the others by dawn... When we talked about our future plans, he said the same careless things to me and we laughed about it back then."  
She bit her lip to keep the rest from coming. Ragna didn´t need to know the rest... likely, he didn`t want to know it either.

Much like Makoto, Bullet rolled up her sleeves to bust out her Armagus in full, then waited a couple of seconds for the dog`s mouth to come close enough-  
In just the right moment, her right slammed down towards the ground as the maw of the beast was beneath her- if the hit would connect, it would probably pierce its tongue and nail it to the bottom of the train car.  
"Fuck this. I hate fighting non-human enemies." She growled, already regreting to wait that long as the saliva of the beast coverd her.

Ragna exhales and brings a hand up to Caelica's face, thumb brushing away the tears. "Gotta be honest, sounds like something I do. But then . . . well. I guess he is sort of me in a way."

He grimaces, and moves back up beside Caelica again, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and drawing her into a hug. "I have to laugh about it." he murmurs. "I mean, what if I don't? Then I just spent my last day being a miserable little prick. That ain't no way to go. I'm sorry you lost your Ragna, because I didn't know him, but he sounds like an upright guy."

The Reaper shakes his head, fingers drifting across Caelica's face absently as he stares out the windows at nothing. "I don't want to be trite, but I don't really know all the right things to say - because I don't really know you all that well, either, or who this other Ragna really was." He says ruefully. "So forgive me for being a dumbass, again. I'll figure out the right way someday."

~*~

The punch slams into one of the hound's fangs and halts its bite in place, the beast flinching as the tooth chips - and then Makoto leaps right into its open mouth and hooks an uppercut up into the animal's sinuses, blasting a gory hole through the soft tissue. It shrieks in agony and flops back, falling onto the floor of the traincar, but its throes bat Makoto in a wall. The back of her head slams into a glass window and shatters it. She staggers.

The suited man hops over the dying hound and nods at Bullet. "Not bad." he says, and drops a grenade, which he kicks over to Bullet's feet.

Caelica slowly smiles again, a grimace of sorts, fighting the tears with a smile.  
"Oh, i`m sure he wasn´t miserable that night." She simply commented, closing her eyes again. "It just hurts. I told him i´d stay with him, travel with him to see the world after it would all be over... and he didn`t respond to it. I told him i love him... and he told he i`d regret that some day."  
Clawing into the dashboard of the train, she tries to get a hold of herself again, her hand taking his arm off of her.  
"I`m sorry you had to see me burst out in emotions like that. Its the past, it happened, it cannot be undone, time travel or otherwise. You`re not him, you`ll never be him... "  
She smiled to him as if she knew of his "heroic" deeds.  
"...you`ll be greater."

Grunting in disappointment, Bullet kicked the grenade out of the nearest window- a small explosion unleashing a smokescreen the moment it existed the window.  
A brief puff made it inside the train car, but the broken window sucked it out in less than a minute, the cold air being drawn in.  
"A smokescreen, huh?" The mercenary grabbed her backpack and pulled one of her own grenades out, with a red label on the top and the bottom.  
"Try some of this instead." Pulling the pin and tossing it away, Bullet held the grenade firmly in hand before tossing it into the maw of the dying hound, hoping for a better fragmentation effect and a less destructive force if the blast had to overcome the meat of the creature first.

Ragna grimaces. "Well to be fair I wouldn't know how to respond to it either, though that's a kinda obvious statement considering who he was. Kinda used to traveling on my own. I guess he just figured he'd experience it for himself before he made any comments about it, rather than running his mouth." He frowns. "Though . . . well. He's kind of a dick for not responding to the second bit."

The Reaper bites his lip and then sighs, determining to not repeat his alter ego's mistake. "Love is - a pretty big deal." he says quietly. "And even if he didn't feel it for you, he should have at least said something. Because it hurts to put yourself out in the open like that. You're a brave woman, Caelica. And a good one."

~*~

The other man doesn't wait. As Bullet punts the grenade out the window and draws her own, he darts over and grabs ahold of Makoto's shoulder. She starts to turn and swing at him, still woozy, when he jerks _hard_. The joint comes clean out of the socket with the vicious pull, and Makoto's eyes widen as she sucks in a breath, her punch faltering.

Suit man doesn't wait. He kicks her leg out from beneath her then shoves her almost completely through the wall of the car by her throat. Only her good arm catching onto the edge prevents her from soaring out onto the rushing-by tracks, and the man's grip on her throat is rapidly stealing oxygen.

Caelica chuckled a bit, leaning back into the seat.  
"Its not like he didn`t return the feeling, Ragna. He probably just didn´t know what to say at that point. Trust me, i know he meant it..."  
She started to smile a little, fidgeting with her hands.  
"You know what happens when two young people in desperate times, unsure of their future are out in the wilderness, alone and in love and..."  
Her cheeks flushed a bit.  
"You get the idea. I think his last days were pleasent ones."

The explosion tore the beast into chunks of meat, and blood covered Bullet`s entire body in the backblast- she should`ve gotten into hiding.  
Seeing him threaten her friend however, her survival instincts kick in and she grabs a hold of his head, pulling it back roughly- her left hand grabbed a glass shard from the broken window and held its point against the back of his neck, precisely between two pieces of his spine, ready to be rammed inside and severing his spinal cord.  
"Let her go this second or you`ll experience your next without your body." She growled lowly in his ear, her murderous intent made clear.

Ragna blinks. He hadn't thought they were that close. "Oh. Awesome." Instantly cursing his mouth for letting that slip through, he attempts to change the subject. "Anyways, I just, uh, realized how awkward this whole thing would have been for you. I'm really frigging sorry about that. Shoulda asked up front."

He turns back to face the oncoming station, as the train begins to slow. "I've been pretty insistent that me and - well - me have been two different people. And I still think that - but I kinda want to explain myself a bit." Ragna scratches the back of his head. "I haven't done anything to earn your admiration and - all of that other stuff, Caelica. Bloodedge was a great guy and you loved him. That would be stupid of me to cheapen all that would have meant to you."

~*~

Suit Man blinks lazily. "Sure." he says, and lets go.

Makoto falls off the train, eyes glazed and distant from bloodloss and oxygen deprivation.

Caelica nearly bursted into laughter when he said it this bluntly. Instead she bit her lip and just snorted, her comfort levels rising instantly.  
"Its fine, Ragna. I`m over it now... thanks to your brilliant understanding of the situation." A smile was brought on her face as she slowly raised her body from the seat. "You´re no less of a great guy, Ragna. You`re just not quite as crippled. Really, i don`t know what people told you about him, but he was nobody special... He was just a guy with a sword and without a history. The only difference was that he had the courage and determination to stand up and do something about the beast, rather than being paralyzed by its terrifying power." The smile turned into a grin. "Something tells me you would do the same thing in his position. I`m not saying you and him are the same person- you definitely aren't, but what i`m trying to say is, you`re just as much of a great guy as him."

Bullet widened her eyes in a shock, then cursed and simply kicked the man in the back, bringing him out along with her.  
"Makoto!" She yelled, then saw no other choice but to follow suit. Leaping out, she quickly found herself landing in a roll as the train had arrived at a station- that way at least it would be easier to find Makoto.  
Without hesitating for a second, she ran down the narrow concrete road between the lethal electric traintracks and the wall, looking for a piece of furr in the darkness that loomed ahead of her.  
"Makoto! Where are you, damnit?! Give me an answer!"

Ragna's mouth sets into a line and he nods, not quite sure how to feel about that. There isn't a name for what he's feeling at the moment, but the closest thing would be - reassurance. That he's still who he is. It's a bizarre concept and it starts to hurt his head to think about it, so he doesn't. "Alright." he says roughly. "Thanks."

He pulls Caelica into a rough hug, and then starts to fidget with the train controls, as if he'd had anything to do with the transit so far besides starting the subway. "We should be there soon. Go back and check on the other two, make sure they haven't started a nudist colony or anything."

~*~

Suit Man soars out the broken side of the train and bounces off the wall of the tunnel with a cough. With a click of his fingers, another enormous hound that had been seated atop the train leaps off and bounds to his side. He mounts it and rides off, choosing to retreat for the moment.

Another racking cough sounds from nearby, and Makoto waves a limp hand from where she'd snagged the door of the traincar by the simple expedient of putting her fist through it and clenching. Her fingers are a bloody mess and her arm looks purple and unhealthy from the forces involved in stopping her descent, but she's smiling weakly. "Hey." she says. "Sorry. Not really pulling my weight here."

The beastkin girl grimaces and extracts her hand from the traincar wall, and then grimaces at their retreating foe. "Couldn't stand to take his own beatings, eh."

Caelica nodded, moving over to check on Makoto and Bullet... and froze as she saw the carnage.  
The amount of destruction and gore contradicted the view of the train she had in her memory, and the lack of her two friends also served to frighten her immensely.  
"Ragna... why is the train painted in blood and why are there holes in the train car?!" She whispered, then squealed at the top of her lungs, her eyes widening with every second.

Bullet rushed over to Makoto and pulled her out of the door, resting the beaten arm on her shoulder while she held her tight at her hips.  
Quickly, but carefully moving back into the train, she made sure not to touch the rails under any circumstances.  
"Its fine. He got the jump on you." She responded, smiling weakly. "Its not your fault. Come on, we gotta get you treated..."

Ragna turns around then doubletakes at the sheer destruction laid out behind him. "What the fuck did I just miss, a NOL raid or a frat party?" He flips the tram engine off then kicks out a window and hops out, turning only to catch a last glimpse of their enemy riding away. "And who the fuck was that?"

He growls and punches the train, denting a side panel heavily, before he turns and strides back to the other two fighters. "That looks like a hell of a rumble." The Reaper comments. "Sorry I missed out. I was, eh, pretty distracted."

Makoto leers at him. "I bet -" she breaks off in a fit of coughing, her abused throat complaining. "Eh, I'll save that one for later. Caelica, can I get some of those magic fingers of yours?"

Still shocked with her mouth wide agape, Caelica nodded furiously and moved over to the beastkin as Bullet let her down to lie on a pair of seats.  
"I...i..i`ll get... right on it..."  
Easier said than done, her shivering hands went to the squrriels body and as soon as they touched her, the pain eased and the wounds started to close.  
"Relax... you... you`ll be fine..."

In the meantime, Bullet brought a bottle of mineral water from the bag she raided earlier and opened it, then dumped the contents on her face to wash off the blood with a tissue paper. Her hair had been mostly spared, but her face was crimson red- a bit pink after the cleanup procedure.  
However, her clothes had gotten the full package of animal blood- her jeans turned black while her tank top, now sticking tightly to her skin like bodypaint, was in a deep shade of red, still glistering wet.  
Gasping after the cold washup, she tossed the bottle away and scowled.  
"I don`t mind red and black, but only the front?" With this she peeked behind her, where the blood hadn`t gotten to- her jeans were still blue halfway across the sewing point and beyond.

Ragna blinks at Bullet. She's covered in blood, soaking wet, and still scorched in places from having stood in front of a grenade going off. "God_damn_." he mutters weakly, trying to keep his knees from shaking as he discovers in that moment exactly what his type is: competent women. "Hold on, I'll help. But, uh, this'll probably feel weird."

With a mental stretch, the Grimoire he wears as an arm draws in the soul remnants of the hound, drinking its blood and life with equal, macabre glee. It's been semi-sentient as long as he can remember, though it rarely expresses anything when not in a fight. The blood grudgingly slides out of Bullet's clothes and fabrics in freefloating globules that then accelerate and smack into his arm. It ripples black with each impact as it absorbs the treats.

"You won't believe how often that's come in handy." Ragna comments idly.

"Yeah." Makoto deadpans. "Not creepy at all. _Oh_, that's the spot, Caelica." The beastkin stretches in unfeigned pleasure once the mage starts in on her shoulder. "I trust you. Do that as long as you want. No complaints."

Caelica stared at the Beastkin, now more more uncomfortable than ever.  
"Makoto, that sounded incredibly... uh... outgoing, if thats the right word for it... "  
Regardless of the consequences, she kept healing, trying to ignore the implications. She was just feeling good because the pain went away.  
Yeah. Thats it.  
Don´t touch her anywhere else.

Bullet blinked in suprise as she found herself being cleaned off by a vacuum called the Azure Grimiore.  
Now, she was just soaking wet, but out there in the wasteland, that would dry off in a matter of minutes.  
"Uh, thanks. But next time, do that before i dump water all over my face."  
Her hair still dripping, she ran a hand through it to stroke it out of her face, avoding to get possibly irradiated mineral water into her eyes.  
"..Well, i`m all ready now. And Kokonoe better pays me back for this job." The merc responded, the second part with a certain bitterness.

"I could do worse." Makoto replies, eyes closed as Caelica works her magic. "But I think I'll save it for when I have not just fallen off a train. Thanks, Cae. Seriously."

Ragna blinks at Bullet. "Well it's not like I had a chance to do anything before you went and decided to have a wet T-shirt contest." Ragna defends. "And look at it this way: we brought bags and we're about to invade an old abandoned science complex. The question is, how much can you carry out, and how valuable will it be?"

He lifts his shoulders as if to imply a lack of knowledge, then turns to Makoto and crouches to poke the beastkin in the forehead. "You doing alright there, squirrelbutt?"

"Not as great as you, sugarplum." Makoto answers, a cheeky grin lifting one corner of her mouth.

" . . . You win." Ragna concedes.

Overhearing their conversation and deciding it was more worksafe than imagineing doing... things with Makoto, Caelica turned to Ragna with a worrying look.  
"Yes, about that, Ragna... aside the fact she`s my neice and she`s a lot like my big sister, i don`t know anything about Kokonoe... the only thing i know is that she has some fearsome technology if she can just bring me back from the past whenever she likes."  
A little sigh escaped her.  
"Is she... trustworthy enough to recieve that log...?"

As if on cue, Makoto`s cellphone began to ring as Kokonoe had noticed the sudden drop in the squrriel`s vital signs, but didn`t want to butt in during a fight.

Bullet nudged Ragna with her fist, smirking a bit. "So you -like- that kind of stuff, going by your discription of it, huh?"  
However, before he could really answer, a groan escaped her as Makoto`s coat began to ring.  
"Queen bitch, i presume."

Makoto reaches in her pocket and extracts the phone with her good arm, nestling the device between her shoulder and head. "What's up, Kokonoe?" she asks. "We just ran into a bit of resistance. Some ass with giant dogs that was on the subway here. I guess he's here to track us, but he has some serious strength. Wore a bad suit, looked really ugly. You know anything about him?"

Ragna reaches down to place a hand on Caelica's shoulder. "I'm getting it for you first." he says firmly. "After we know that what's in it can't blow up the world, then we'll talk about giving it to Kokonoe." Then he flushes a little bit. "And Bullet, it doesn't matter _what_ I like right now, because you've got enough of everything on display right now to fill any taste I'd have."

Bullet chuckled, considering to invite him, but chose to delay that for some other time.  
"So long as you look, no one's insulted, Rags. But any more than looking and the other girls might get jealous."

Caelica took a deep breath and leaned against Ragna`s hand.  
"I can pretty much guess what Kokonoe wants. Father made a habit of writing down everything he worked on... but as i said, i just want to see what he was like during his last days, i didn´t see him for years."  
She was hesitant to tell too much, espeically when Kokonoe was practically listening in. Ragna was going to find out soon enough, anyway...

Kokonoe huffed, but gave her a negative response.  
"If he didn`t have green hair and an annoying attitude, i can`t help you. Most likely some mutant that somehow adapted to his surroundings... i can´t even send Tager over to you guys because his flesh would be torn from his endoskeleton from the radiation. However..."  
She breathed out deeply, audiably annoyed.  
"...i finished the maintenance work on Neon, so i`ll be sending him over to you guys. The radiation might have some affect on his systems, but seithr exposure and the ususal alpha radiation shouldn`t harm him too much. Besides, its probably safer to have some backup after that, right?"

Ragna huffs a breath. "Makoto swings both ways, so I wouldn't be the only one in trouble, Bullet."

Makoto rolls her eyes but doesn't bother to respond. "Send him over, Kokonoe. If nothing else, having someone on hand who doesn't depend on Cae's magic to not die is worth it." She lowers the phone and gives Ragna a gimlet eye. "That was mean of you."

Ragna studiously avoids the beastkin's gaze. "Thanks for the help, Kokonoe. Can you stand, Makoto, or . . ."

"Alright- he`ll be over in a jiffy. Watch out for the skies." Kokonoe says, than hangs up without another word.

Caelica sighs in return and pats Ragna on the back, reassuring him with a smile.  
"I wouldn´t be jealous. ...maybe a little, but i´d still be proud of you. Ragna, the Bloodedge, finally becoming a man~"

Bullet widened her eyes, then desperately tried to hold her laughter.  
"Dude! Duuuude! Low blow! Low fucking blow, Caelica!" She managed to bring out, trying to swallow the comedic outburst with ancient cola.

Feeling a bit guilty, but amused nonetheless, Caelica heads for the train station with a backpack in hand. "Uhhm, we should head to the surface, right...? I mean, we can`t wait for backup down here~"

Ragna flushes much more fully now, turning a brilliant shade of red. "Duly noted." he bites off. "Makoto?"

She waves him off, laughing. "No, no, I think I'm not the one that needs help here." The beastkin eyes him teasingly, sticking out her bottom lip in a hint of a pout, working her arm a bit as she tests its renewed strength. "But Bullet's not the only one that could help you with your _little_ problem . . ."

Ragna stares at her. Then he stomps off. Makoto bursts out laughing so hard she has to lean against Caelica's knee for support. "Oh man." she gasps. "That was mean but it felt _so_ good." She starts off in a new storm of laughter as Ragna bounds up onto the boarding floor and starts up the stairs to the surface.


End file.
